


For Henry

by Adm_Hawthorne



Series: For Henry [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-06 13:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 69,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adm_Hawthorne/pseuds/Adm_Hawthorne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina broods over what she dislikes about Emma Swan while she makes her morning coffee only to be confronted by the sheriff moments later. The morning ends with Emma showing insight, Regina showing a crack in her armor, and the potential for something more to happen for both of them. This will be Swan Queen by the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written OUaT fic before, so I apologize if anything or anyone seems a little off. I try to keep the characters' personalities as close to canon as I can, but this is a bit of a learning experience for me.
> 
> Characters aren't mine. They belong to ABC, Disney, and other assorted entities of importance. I gain nothing from writing these stories but the fun of doing it. Please don't sue me.

Coffee. Emma Swan always had the slightest hint of an aroma of coffee that lingered around her, and it was one of many things Regina Mills found annoying. With the curse broken, the list of things that annoyed the now former Mayor about the Sheriff was growing exponentially, but she found that the smell of coffee that she'd begun to associated with Ms. Swan had managed to make it's way toward the top of the list.

It was right there in her top ten. They were as follows:

1\. Taking Henry from her  
2\. Breaking the curse she'd worked so hard to implement  
3\. Her crassness  
4\. The fact she was the daughter of the always nauseating Snow White and Prince Charming  
5\. The ghastly red leather jacket she insisted on wearing  
6\. The death trap of a car  
7\. The association with the aroma of coffee  
8\. Emma's habit of saving her when the dark haired woman would rather just die  
9\. Taking Graham from her  
10\. Did she mention taking Henry from her?

Regina had a fine appreciation for coffee. Coffee was something to be savored . Each different type of roast had it's own uniqueness that exploded on the tongue with hints of everything that came together to make each brew delicious in its own way. Like fine wines needed to be relished to be fully comprehended, coffee had its own power that could only be really understood by someone who took the time to slowly sip it and pay close attention to the detail of the roast.

That is exactly what Regina did with her coffee. She ordered her coffee from specialty roasters, always in full bean. She had a coffee grinder, and she believed it was the height of crassness to use anything but a traditional French press. Somethings were well worth the wait.

Ms. Swan, on the other hand, drank her coffee without tasting it, didn't care where it came from so long as it was hot and strong, and barely waited long enough for the drip coffee pot to finish brewing it before she started drinking it.

It was a classical representation of Emma Swan, and it annoyed Regina that, because the Sheriff drank so much coffee with such little regard to the intricate appreciation the concoction deserved, she always smelled slightly of it, which served to lessen the experience for Regina whenever she brewed coffee for herself.

Now, each time she poured boiling water into her French press and the rich, deep aroma of her coffee filtered through the air, her mind would snap to Emma Swan, which would lead her thoughts through everything that had happened up until this point. Inevitably, her mind would landed, much to Regina's annoyance, with the events of the past few days and the scene at the well followed closely by the entire town celebrating Emma and Snow's return while not so much as giving a side-glance of thanks for her help in bringing them back.

"Perhaps I should switch to tea to get my daily caffeine," she muttered to no one in particular. Her house was still empty. Henry was still living with his grandparents. She rolled her eyes. "I'm  _so_ glad they found each other," she snorted, "again."

With a sigh she carefully placed the lid over her French press and picked up the paper to read while she waited for her coffee to brew. Since the curse had been lifted, the local news had ceased to be about state or world events. It focused on issues concerning only the town and who had found whom along with letters to the editor about what everyone thought ought to be done about the Evil Queen.

This particular edition had a rousing letter from an anonymous writer suggesting taking a page from the history books of this world and burning the witch at the stake. Regina read it, chuckled, and then gave a shrug. "Had that idea already," she muttered as she thought back to that awful dream. She shuddered and tossed the paper onto the top of her counter.

Taking in a deep breath, the aroma of coffee filled her lungs, and she groaned.

Emma Swan.

Another eye roll followed the thought. Why couldn't she have just told Henry no when he found her? Better yet, why couldn't Henry have been happy with how things were? She frowned deeply. She knew all those answers. This was all destined to happen. She knew it when she enacted the curse. Well, she more-or-less knew it. Hindsight being what it was, she realized that her much younger self had been blinded by so much hatred, rage, and hurt she really didn't know what she was doing, nor did she fully understand the implications.

It was astounding to consider that she was actually in her 60s. Too much time had passed for her to not have gained some wisdom and some sort of perspective since she tore her father's heart out.

That thought made her wince.

"Perhaps not today, Regina," she chastised aloud to the air as she carefully pushed the plunger of the press down and then poured herself a cup of coffee. Taking both the newspaper and cup outside to her backyard, she settled down into her favorite lawn chair to enjoy the cool breeze that comes just after dawn as the dew lifts and the town wakes. It was always her favorite part of the day.

Her eyes skimmed the paper again, and this time it fell to the news of how the town would now interacted with the outside world. Despite their memories returning, they were still part of the political machine of this world, and, if they were to keep outsiders out, then they would need to continue to conform to the taxation and political requirements of their current world. The problem was, of course, that none of them really knew how to do that. Regina had been the mayor for nearly 30 years, and she was, as the article pointed out, really the only person in town qualified, let alone even remotely knowledgeable, in how to deal with the political machine of the United States of America.

"They could just ask me," she commented as read the editorial. "I have nothing to gain from misleading them in how to deal with the rest of the state's governing system. At this point," she sipped her coffee, "I really wouldn't have anything to gain to be a corrupt mayor, either. They could just let me at least do my job."

"Former job," Emma Swan's voice broke through the quiet of the backyard, and it took everything Regina had not to show the shock and surprise she felt at the interruption into her private musings.

"Ms. Swan, do you ever knock?" The former mayor didn't make any indication of lowering her paper nor her coffee cup.

The lack of welcome did not, of course, deter her unwelcomed visitor. "I knocked. You didn't answer, and, after everything that's gone down over the past few months, I got a little worried when you didn't answer your phone. I," she walked around to at least be in Regina's line of sight, "jumped the fence to see if I could look into a window to at least make sure no foul play had gone on."

Ever regal, the older woman glanced up from her paper and smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Always the White Knight, Sheriff?"

"Apparently," Emma deadpanned as she took a seat in the lawn chair next to Regina. "I came by because I've been talking to Henry and David... erm... James." She rolled her eyes. "Prince Charming? Dad?"

Placing the paper and coffee cup down on the table between them, Regina shot the blonde an amused yet arrogant look. "Pick one, dear."

"I would if I could," came the answer. "Anyway, they told us what went on while we've been stuck in that God forsaken forest, and, I've got to say, Regina," the young woman caught the other's eyes as she tried to convey the honest sincerity of her words, "I'm a little shocked and a lot thankful for everything that you did."

Regina sensed it. There was more than a simple, implied 'thank you' going on here. "But?"

"But why did you try to kill us only to change your mind at the last minute? I mean, I get that you removed the barrier as a good faith show to Henry, but why did you put it down in the first place? You spent all that time trying to prove to Henry that you could be trusted, and then you go and break it all. Why?"

The dark haired woman leaned back in her chair, posture divinely straight. "Did I miss the memo that stated that we're suddenly friends? What makes you think that I would discuss anything I choose to do with you, Sheriff Swan?"

"I spent a long time in the Enchanted Forest with a woman who looks like she's my age but is my mother, a bunch of fairytale princesses, and a psychotic woman who happens to be your mother trailing me with a guy named Hook from Never Never Land. Maybe the ridiculousness of the past few months has finally caught up to me, and I just assume anything is possible at this point?" Emma shrugged, but she made no indication that she was going to move. It was clear she expected an answer.

"I hate to disappoint you, but not all things are possible," Regina spat back and made a move to stand.

The blonde's voice cut through the air and stopped her. "Snow told me about Daniel, and Dav... Charming told me about the stables." The comments stopped Regina in her tracks. Though she tried to mask the hurt the reminders brought to her, her eyes gave her away. "Your mother, she's more than a piece of work." Emma pressed on. "I probably could have worded that better, but you know I suck at that kind of thing. Look, I've had a couple of days to think about it. I mean, I don't know what happened here at the stables, but I can guess. I do know what happened the first time around. And your mother? She's really the evil one here, Regina. I'm not really convinced you are at all. At least, I'm not convinced anymore."

"And you _clearly_ missed the part of the fairytale stories where I destroyed lives, killed people, took more hearts than I can recall, cursed an entire people to life with no happy endings, and other sordid affairs." The dark haired woman shook her head, pursing her lips in thought for a brief moment. "Don't let you naivete of the world from which we all come lead you to think better of me than your parents would think I deserve, dear. That kind of thought will get you deceived and manipulated by people like me."

This time, Regina did rise, carefully picking up the paper and cup and walking to the back door of her house. She groaned as she heard heavy footsteps following her.

"I know people like you, Regina," Emma said as she caught the back door before it could close in her face. "In this world, I'm not what a lot of people would consider a 100% good person, either. I've been around some seedy people, but I've also been around people that other people thought were seedy, but they weren't."

Regina pulled in a deep breath to calm herself only to be surrounded with the rich smell of the coffee still sitting in her French press. She mentally cursed herself. What was the saying? Oh yes. There is no rest for the wicked or the wary.

"What were they if not 'seedy', Ms. Swan?" Expression full of annoyance, the older woman turned around after placing her items on her counter. She leaned back, crossing her arms and tilting her head.

"They were  _addicted_." The younger woman sighed out her frustration. "They were good people who had really bad, really horrible things happen to them, and they couldn't cope. So, instead of talking to someone – if they even had someone to talk to – they turned to drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, some of it or all of it as a way to escape from their reality, and, the more they fell into their addiction, the harder it was for them to do anything but support whatever needed supporting to continue their habit."

Regina's face was stone and her posture ramrod straight. She didn't move, barely breathed, and said nothing. Emma took it as a sign that the former mayor was at least listening, so she continued.

"I spent a lot of time over in that other place learning about magic, your history, and I had  _a lot_ of time to think about things, and, after going face-to-face with your mother and knowing Gold... Rumpel... whatever the hell his name is, I think," the sheriff bobbed her head down, eyes finally pulling away from the other woman to glance around as she made her final thoughts known, "that you're not evil. You're addicted to magic because it was your escape from your mother and from Gold's control. People," she grunted. Talking wasn't something she really enjoyed, and she realized she'd been talking a lot more than she liked. She started again, "People who are truly addicted, they sometimes can't help themselves. They know what the right things is, but they're not in the driver's seat anymore. Their addiction is, and, after everything Henry and ...Charming... told me about you since Snow and I've been away, I think maybe you're finally trying to take the wheel back."

Emma's eyes finally found Regina's again. "Are you?"

The room was deathly silent as Regina regarded the young blonde. There stood a woman who rarely thought before she acted. She was a do first and ask questions later person. Crude, crass, and lacking any refinement at all, she rarely took any time to consider anything, not even simple things like her coffee. Yet, she had clearly spent a very long time considering Regina, and, what was even more surprising, her considerations had been insightful.

"Do your parents know you're here, Ms. Swan?" It clearly wasn't what Emma expected to hear at all.

The sheriff did a few slow blinks to catch up, but she finally answered. "Yeah, they do, and neither one of them is thrilled. I think Charming is more okay with it than Snow is, but, to be honest, I needed to do this, to ask you this."

"Why?" Regina unfolded her arms and took a step toward the other woman. "We're not friends. We're not allies. Why take such an interest? You have everything you want. You have your family back. You have my son. I have no power here, no influence any longer. What difference does it make to you what my issues are? And don't tell me it's because you're a good person, and good people care about others."

"I'd never tell you that," Emma scoffed. "That's a load bull people like social workers tell kids to get them do what they want." She rolled her eyes. "You want to know why? It's for Henry, and it's for me. Henry loves you. He does. He misses you, and talks about you in roundabout ways a lot. He wants it to be okay to love you and not have people think he's under some spell or curse just because he loves his mom. And I want us to be able to at least not be enemies for Henry's sake. I think it's pretty clear that I'm not going anywhere, and he's not going to settle for me not being a part of his life."

"Yes, crystal." Regina waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss the last point. "And what does that have to do with what my... issues are? What's your interest?"

The blonde gave a heavy sigh. "Addicts don't shake their addictions alone. They do it with the support of their friends and family to help them when they have moments of weakness."

"As you are neither, Ms. Swan..."

"I'd say by default of Henry and Snow, you and I are family, Regina." She smirked as she explained further. "You are, technically, my step grandmother, and, in some weird, round about way, you and I act more liked divorced parents than anything else. You know," she tilted her head, "thinking about it, wouldn't this whole situation make you your own step grandmother?"

"Let's not move into a more complicated conversation than you have the capacity to follow without a flow chart, Ms. Swan." The older woman narrowed her eyes, thinking it over. Nothing was ever this simple. There was always a catch. Yet, those in the town who were considered 'good' rarely had the ulterior motives that she and her cohorts had. What's more, the sheriff was right. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her promise to Henry to not use magic.

Magic was practically in the air now, and, with it hanging over her head all the time and Gold poking at her with it constantly, she could feel her resolve cracking. She had to admit that she was tired of paying the price magic always brought with it.

Decision made, she turned to her cabinets, pulled down another coffee mug, and poured the remainder of the coffee from the French press equally into the two mugs. She turned, handed one to the surprised and confused blonde and then took a sip from own. "Magic is more addicting than any substance in this world, and, yes, Ms. Swan, I am trying very hard to regain control of the wheel, as you say."

Emma nodded as she glanced down at the mug in her hands. "I'll listen. Whenever and where ever, day or night, it doesn't matter." Her eyes met Regina's, and she, again, tried to show the honesty in her words. "I won't betray your confidence if you ever just want to talk."

"I believe that." The older woman walked to toward the living room and nodded for Emma to follow. "I'm only doing this for Henry."

"Yeah, of course," the sheriff said as they exited the kitchen. "For Henry."


	2. Chapter 2

"You know, Ms. Swan, I have been speaking to Dr. Hopper," Regina stated in her matter-of-fact way as she took a seat in her study and motioned for Emma to do the same.

"I didn't know that." Emma took a seat on the opposite end of the sofa, careful not to spill the coffee in her hand. "But I'm glad to hear it. Archie can help you, too, but I also know that talking to a shrink isn't the same as talking to a… well, to a," she frowned, unsure of how to finish the sentence. Giving up, she shrugged. "It's just different."

One well-manicured eyebrow lifted in an unspoken mocking statement as Regina took a sip of her coffee. "So it is."

"Look, we don't have to do this today." The blonde set her mug down on the table, then thought better of it and moved a coaster under it. "I really mean it when I say you can talk to me whenever."

"There's never a time I want to talk about it," the brunette snapped back, pulling her temper in at the last minute before she launched into a tirade about this world and the idiots within it. Closing her eyes, Regina mentally gathered her thoughts before opening her eyes again to search out the other woman. "Have you ever been addicted to something, Ms. Swan?"

"No, I haven't, but I have my own issues, like," Emma stopped to consider what she was about to do. However, Regina was willing to expose herself, so it only seemed fair that she would do the same in return, "the fear of never being loved, of always being rejected. That sort of messes with your head, you know?"

Regina scoffed. "I suppose you'll blame me for that." It was a statement of fact.

"I could," the sheriff answered truthfully but with far less venom than was thrown at her. "I won't, though, because this is about you, not about me. I'm not here to blame you for something and then retaliate for it. If I wanted to do that, I'd have done it a long time ago."

"I suppose you're right. This is not easy for me." Regina glanced around the room. "With the bug, I simply talk about my day, and he asks questions until something comes up. But this? This is far more…"

"Dangerous." Emma nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm terrified that I'll tell you something you'll use against me later, too. If this is going to work, we'll have to call a truce. I'm willing."

"I'm agreeable to the idea. If I were not, you wouldn't be sitting her right now." The former mayor took a long sip from her coffee. "Do you remember the time you asked me how I became such a difficult person?"

The younger woman chuckled. "I remember it, but that's not exactly what I said."

"I'm not as crass as you are, Ms. Swan." Regina rolled her eyes and sat her empty mug on an open coaster on her side table. "The answer to your rhetorical question is that I wasn't always like this. There was a time where you and I would have gotten along very well, perhaps even have become friends."

At the thought, Emma blinked as she tried to keep the disbelief off of her face. "What happened?"

Regina ignored the failed attempt and, instead, answered the question. "My mother happened. She had plans for me before I was ever born, and my father's gentle spirit did not hold up at all against her wrath. I'm sure you're familiar with her moods by now?"

"Yeah, she's one scary bit…"

"Yes." The brunette frowned in disapproval. "As a young girl, I spent a great deal of my time trying to please her, but I never quite managed. In retaliation for my failed attempts at perfection, my mother would use magic to constrain and correct me."

Emma's mind raced to keep up with the real story behind the placid tone and none emotional words she was being fed. The picture coming together in her head was one that was far worse than what she'd guessed had happened. "She abused you?"

"My mother loved me. She just wasn't very good at showing it." Regina glanced away to look out the window toward the apple tree in her backyard. "She wanted to teach me to be independent, strong willed, and to have no weaknesses." she sighed. "She wanted me powerful."

For a time, they were quiet. It was Emma who finally breached it, but her words felt awkward and clumsy in her mouth. "You are, you know?" At the quick look from the other woman, she clarified. "You are powerful, and you're independent and  _very_ strong willed." She shrugged. "But everyone has weaknesses. That's just human nature."

"My weakness caused me to lose that which I loved the most." The words were out before Regina could stop them, and she was caught between wanting to finish the story so someone else would know and not wanting to give up such a large part of herself. But, she reasoned, that was the whole point of this exercise, and, if Emma were to break her word, she could always kill her. That thought made her wince. It was thoughts such as that which had led her to where she was now in her life. "Did your mother explain what happened between us?"

Emma nodded. "She said it was her fault because she told your mother about Daniel."

"Did she tell you that, on the day he and I were going to run away and be married, my mother ripped his heart from his chest and crushed it to dust while I watched? Did she tell you that the only reason my mother knew about it was because Snow found out and told her after giving me her word she would not tell my mother?" Regina's gaze became piercing as she spoke, eyes daring Emma to look away from her. "Did she tell you that her father, your grandfather, proposed to me and I was forced to marry him at the age of 18? Did she tell you that I spent my young adult life catering to her father's whims,  _all_  of them, as he pleased until I had him killed?"

"You killed my grandfather?" As soon as she said it, Emma knew it was the wrong thing to comment on.

"I think you need to leave now, Ms. Swan." Regina stood and headed to the front door. "You've over stayed your welcome."

"No, wait a minute," Emma stood and followed the older woman toward the door as she tried to fix her mistake. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant," she sighed in aggravation. "Look, just," stopping at the now open front door, she gave Regina a pleading look, "give me a chance here, okay? There's a lot I don't know, and I'm learning as I go here. But I do want to help, and I'm not going to judge you."

"Of course you are." Regina's eyes flared with anger. "It's what you Charmings do. You never stop to think of the consequences of your actions because you think what you're doing is 'good'. Let me tell you a little something about good, Sheriff. It's an easy excuse to overlook the evil that's happening because of your 'good deed'." She held the door open further. "Get out."

"Regina, I…"

"Get. Out." The former queen's chin rose slightly, her face becoming haughty and arrogant as she said in a chillingly cool voice, "Or I will remove you myself."

"Okay, alright." Emma held her hands up in defeat. "I'm going, but I'm not leaving you alone, Regina." She stepped out onto the porch and turned toward the swiftly closing door. "You're not alone in this anymore," she yelled as the door slammed shut in her face. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she mumbled to herself, "You just have trust me first."

 


	3. Chapter 3

"You're back, and you don't look like you're hurt," Mary Margaret said as she ran a careful eye over Emma. "How'd it go?"

"Better than I thought it would, but worse than I'd like for it to have gone." Emma huffed as she pulled her jacket off and hung it before walking to the small kitchen island to take a seat. "She's got a lot of anger."

Mary Margaret snorted. "Understatement of all time." She handed over a glass of water as she took a seat next to the blonde. "Your father and I still think it was a bad idea for you to go over there."

"Someone has to step up," Emma answered, not bothering to look at the other woman as she spoke. "Regina nearly died saving us from that deathtrap she and Gold placed on the well. She didn't have to do that. She could have let us die."

"If she hadn't booby-trapped the well in the first place, she wouldn't have had to disarm it, and she wouldn't have risked her life," the brunette countered.

"She was trying to keep Cora from crossing over to this world, and, I mean, you've met the woman. Can you blame Regina for not wanting her here?" Emma gave a shudder. Finally looking over at the pixie brunette, she added with a smirk, "Regina might be the Evil Queen, but she looks like a teddy bear compared to Cora. God, can you imagine if Cora was here? In Storybrooke?"

"It'd be very bad," the older woman conceded. "Still, there are other ways to protect us from Cora other than risk killing you and me in an attempt to stop her."

"You really think so?" The blonde shook her head in disagreement. "I'm not so sure." She glanced around the loft. "Where's Henry?"

"He and David went out for a sword lesson." With a proud smile playing in her face, Mary Margaret gave a little shrug. "Henry's getting good at it. He's a natural."

"Of course he is." The sheriff rolled her eyes. "While he can't eavesdrop, there's something I want to ask you. It's something Regina said while she was shouting at me before she kicked me out this morning."

Steeling herself, Mary Margaret gave a nod of her head. "Okay."

Emma took in a deep breath and then rushed through the question. "Regina said she had your father, my grandfather, killed. Is that true?"

Mary Margaret's face shut down and her body stiffened. "Did she tell you why she had him killed?"

"No, we really didn't get that far into the conversation before she threw me out, but," the younger woman's eyes pleaded, "I need to know this story. What happened? What, _exactly_ , happened between the two of you?"

"We could never prove she had him killed." Mary Margaret's voice was small, as if her mind was suddenly elsewhere. "There was a man in the court who was guilty of the actual assassination, but we always suspected Regina was the one to put the wheels in motion. After the man disappeared before he could be tried and Regina did very little grieving for the death of my father, it seemed evident that she had orchestrated the entire event." Sighing heavily, the brunette stood to make a pot of coffee.

Emma chewed on her bottom lip. She wasn't certain how far to push this conversation. "She said she was 18 years old when she was forced to marry him. Is that true?"

"Forced? Is that what she said?" The smaller woman whipped around from her task, eyes glowing with anger. "My father adored her. He loved her, and she repaid him by having him killed."

"But," Emma knew she was on shaky ground, "she was 18, and you told me yourself about Daniel. She would have married someone closer to her own age if he'd lived." She paused for a beat. "Regina told me exactly how he died, by the way. That's just messed up."

"Don't." Mary Margaret's voice was full of warning. "After everything she's done to this family and to this town,  _do not_  feel sorry for her. Emma, she doesn't deserve it. The evil she's done, the horrible atrocities she's commit cannot be forgiven. Do you know how many times she's tried to have me killed?"

Emma frowned, and the words, though quiet, were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "You betrayed her trust."

"I was a child!" Mary Margaret bellowed.

The sheriff fought back just as hard. "You were 11! You knew better!" Emma was up off of the stool and in front of the other woman in a matter of seconds. "At 11 years old, you know what it means to keep a promise and why you shouldn't break a promise. Hell, Henry's 10 and he's smart enough to know the difference  _and_ save an entire town from a curse that would never have happened if you'd kept your mouth shut!"

"Things were different in the other world. We weren't as worldly as the children are here at the same age. I had lost my mother," Mary Margaret's voice shook slightly but the rage was growing with each passing second. "I didn't want Regina to lose hers because she lied to her. I thought I was doing the right thing!"

"You didn't want Regina to leave you." Emma was on a roll. "You wanted her to be your mother, so you turned her in to stop her from running off with her true love because you knew your father would probably propose to Regina."

"How dare you!" The older woman's voice echoed in the small loft. "How dare you accuse me of being that level of selfish. Emma, I was a child! I didn't…"

"To hell you didn't." The blonde stepped back and ran a hand over her face, mentally counting to ten. In a much quieter voice she said, "I have no idea what I'm doing." She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "You're right. It doesn't matter what started this. She had choices. She didn't have to turn out to be the Evil Queen."

Mary Margaret blew out a long stream of air as she tried to calm herself down. "Do you really think so little of me?"

"No," Emma shook her head slowly in the negative. "I just understand Regina's point of view. I get it. I get her, and I think I'm having a hard time with the fact that everyone else doesn't seem to see what I see."

"And what would that be?" The person looking at her was Mary Margaret, but the tone was all Snow White.

With a heavy heart and look of conflict on her face, Emma answered the question as best she could. "I see that she's trying to be the woman she could have been. I see that she wants to be a better person for our son." At the word 'our', the brunette raised an eyebrow, but remained silent as the sheriff continued. "I see how and why she's made a lot of the choices she has, and, though it doesn't excuse them, it does put them in perspective. I don't know." Emma began to pace. "Maybe it's because the only world I've ever known is this one. Maybe it's because I never knew the Evil Queen or Regina when she was younger, or whatever, but I know  _this_  Regina, and I know she needs help."

She stopped pacing to look at the other woman again. "Look, I'm not saying she doesn't deserve some kind of punishment for all the crap she's done. But what I am saying is that, if we are to ever have a time where none of us have to worry about being killed, destroyed, or cursed, then we really should be encouraging Regina to come back from the dark side. She's a powerful person, regardless of anything else you might say about her. Wouldn't you rather her be on our team than the opposing one? Aren't you tired of fighting her all the time?"

They were quiet for a very long time, eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. Mary Margaret broke first, eyes flicking to the side before coming back to meet Emma's again. "What if she's just trying to get on our good side so she can get close enough to hurt us again?"

"I won't let that happen," Emma soothed, voice soft but firm. "If she's being dishonest, I'll know. But someone has to take the first step, and I'm taking it. Like I told you before I went over there this morning, Regina needs support if she's going to break her addiction. I'm going to give it to her whether she wants me to or not."

The brunette gave a mirthless chuckle. "Always our White Knight, Emma?"

The sheriff rolled her eyes. "Apparently."


	4. Chapter 4

"Emma Swan came to see me today," Regina pulled one of her legs underneath her as she settled into the couch in Doctor Hopper's office.

"Oh really?" Archie raised an eyebrow, trying to hide his surprise. "How was the visit?"

She sighed heavily as she patted the cushion next to her to let Pongo know he was welcome. The dog quickly stood from his bed and hopped up next to her, placing his head on her lap and giving a happy little noise as she began to gently scratch him behind the ear. "Tense and unwelcome, though Ms. Swan has a habit of weaseling her way into places she's not welcome, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find her jumping my fence this morning." She rolled her eyes.

"Why would she do that?" The doctor tilted his head to the side in genuine curiosity.

Regina kept her eyes on the dog. "She said she was concerned for my wellbeing after I didn't answer the door. Something about my safety being in jeopardy after…  _everything_." She waved a hand dismissively in the air. "She also said she wanted to help me." With that, she looked the man across from her in the eye. "She said she understood what it meant to battle an addiction, and she offered herself as another person I could confide in."

At this, Archie did show his surprise. "What do you think about that?"

"I think she's foolish." Her tone was even, and it reminded Archie of the Evil Queen from the Enchanted Forrest. "She can't be everyone's Savior. She certainly isn't  _mine_."

He studied her for a moment as she scowled and turned her attentions back to giving Pongo belly rubs. "Do you think she's trying to save you from something?"

"I think she's being a Charming," Regina shot back, her eyes again making contact with Archie's. "They all want to gallivant around trying to save everyone they think is in danger. It's a foolish enterprise. Not everyone and everything can be saved."

"Do  _you_ think you can't be saved, Regina?"

The office was quiet. She sat stoically, her face a mask of calm control as she stared down the doctor. "I didn't say that."

"Well," he nodded, writing down a notation as he spoke, "why do you think Emma is foolish to offer you what she has?"

Regina shook her head. "She doesn't understand. The things that make me," she searched for the right words, but nothing seemed to fit. "The events that led to where we all are now happened in a land with a people and in a time that Emma Swan will never understand. How can she be of use to me if she has no understanding of who or what  _she_ is, let alone who  _I_ am?"

Doctor Hopper gave her a thoughtful look. "What did you two discuss today to make you consider this particular issue regarding Emma?"

"I gave her a very brief synopsis of what my life was like prior to the curse, and the only thing she could comment on was how her grandfather had died." Regina took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She wasn't sure she was ready to discuss her late husband.

Archie didn't push. Instead, he glanced over his notes from the session so far to decide where best he could help Regina with what she was ready to discuss. Finding something of note, he gave a little nod of his head. "And that is when you learned she was unaware of our actual history in the other world?"

Regina opened her eyes and glared at him. "Yes."

He ignored the glare. "Which led you to assume she wouldn't make a good person to talk to because she has no understanding?"

She rolled her eyes. "Didn't I just say that?"

"Regina, I'd like for you to consider something, if you will." He shifted in his seat. "Sometimes, the best people to confide in are the ones who are so far removed from the situation that you must explain everything so they understand. It helps  _you_ to find perspective as you explain the details, and it helps  _them_  so they are able to better understand from where you're coming." He leaned forward slightly in his chair. "I think it might be helpful to talk to Emma, if you're comfortable doing so."

"And give her more information to use against me later? No, I don't think so." She shook her head in the negative.

"You're afraid of being judged?" Again, he nodded to himself and wrote something down in his notes.

"No, of course not. I don't care what that vagrant and her two idiotic parents think about me." She snorted in disgust.

Archie gave an unassuming smile. "Then what's the harm in talking to her if she's offered and you…"

"I don't trust her," Regina snapped. "And why should I? She's taken my son from me, and she's the daughter of my two worst enemies. Why would I trust a thing she has to tell me? And  _do not_  tell me I should trust her simply because she's Emma Swan - the Savior and White Knight."

"No, of course not." Carefully, Doctor Hopper set his notes aside and crossed his legs as he thought of how best to answer her question. "Has she ever lied to you?"

"What?" Regina's face flashed between confused and annoyed.

"Has Emma ever lied to you?" He steepled his fingers and waited for her to answer.

She blinked at him, but she considered the question. "Yes. She said she would leave town, and she never did."

He tilted his head as if to say 'fair enough' but continued to ask his questions. "And after that?"

She groaned. "The times she contacted Henry when I explicitly forbade it come immediately to mind." Her hand stopped petting Pongo, who whined in disapproval. "Why are you so insistent that I take Ms. Swan up on her offer?"

He gave her a gentle but sad smile. "I'm glad you speak with me, Regina, and I feel we've made great progress, but there's something to be said for having a network of people to help you along the way."

"Addicts don't shake their addictions alone. They do it with the support of their friends and family to help them when they have moments of weakness," she said mostly to herself.

"Well, I wouldn't put it in exactly those terms, but…"

Again, she waved a hand in the air, this time to cut him off. "No, that's what Emma Swan told me today." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And  _you_ agree with her?"

"Regina, a person is not an island." He frowned. "We need others to help us when we have moments where we're not the exact people we'd like to be."

She began to scratch Pongo behind the ear again as she sat quietly, thinking. Finally, she stopped and stood up, carefully picking up her purse as she did so. "I'll consider it."

"That's all I ask," he answered as he walked her to the door, not bothering to mention they had another 15 minutes until the session was over.


	5. Chapter 5

The sheriff's station was blessedly quiet. After the morning she'd had with Regina and the confrontation with Mary Margaret, Emma was happy to settle down to paperwork, coffee, and a day old bear claw. It occurred to her as she sorted through the pile of papers on her desk that it was actually a little silly for her to do it at all.

The only person at this point who would care about the paperwork being properly filed was the mayor, and the town really didn't have a mayor. They had a two princes and two princesses, who didn't know nor care about the inner workings of how a small town in this world was run.

She scrunched her nose up. That wasn't exactly true. She cared about the town not falling apart or attracting unnecessary attention from the outside world, and her parents simply didn't know  _how_ to run a city. They knew how to run a kingdom, but the two are intrinsically different.

She signed off on one stack of papers, stapled them, and moved them to the 'to be filed/submitted' tray before moving on to the next set. She was careful of her work, mindful of the details. Regina had drilled into her head when she first started as sheriff how important it was to accurately detail all events for which the sheriff's office was involved.

Regina, she mused, was actually a rather good mayor when she wasn't trying to run people out of town. She was efficient, accurate with her records, and not any more or less corrupt than most American politicians.

Emma shrugged to herself. Maybe the brunette was right when she said the town should let her be the mayor again. What could it really hurt? Besides, someone needed to do the job, and she was the most qualified person on any account to do it. In addition, it would give Regina something to do that would keep her busy and out of trouble.

"What has you so deep in thought?" David's voice pulled Emma from her ponderings.

"Regina," she said without really thinking about her answer. Quickly glancing up to gauge his reaction to her unfettered response, she could tell he was perplexed.

He gave a little shake of his head as he rounded her desk and leaned against it. "How did that go this morning?"

"Could have gone better." She shrugged. "Could have gone worse. I take it you haven't talked to Mary Margaret yet?"

Crossing his arms, he glanced around the room with a thoughtful expression on his face before he answered. "I just got back from the apartment. Your mother isn't very happy with you right now."

The blonde rolled her eyes and took a sip from her coffee. "The feeling's mutual."

"Emma," his tone left no question that he was trying to be patient with her, "I can understand wanting to help someone when you feel like you understand or sympathize with what they're going through, but…"

"Don't." Her voice left little question that he was treading on thin ice. "Regina made it clear that I have no idea at all what she's been through or what any of you have been through, for that matter. And you know what?" She set her coffee down and leaned back in her chair. "She's right, but, frankly, none of you know what  _I've_ been through, and no one's beating down  _my_ door to ask me what my life was like before I rolled into this God forsaken place."

"You know we would listen if you wanted to talk." David's frown deepened. "We've never wanted to push you. We respect your privacy, and we know that you've been through a lot. I can't tell you how much we wish that wasn't the case, how much we  _wanted_ to be with you as you grew up, but we  _couldn't_  do that, and you know why."

"Because of Regina." She let out a sigh, letting her shoulders slouch down as her eyes left his to stare at her desk. "I know; I know."

"Some people can't be saved, no matter how much you'd like to try to help them. They're irredeemable, and the best you can hope for is that one day they'll give up and fade away." He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder. "Your mother has already been down this road. She tried. She gave Regina a chance at redemption, and, in return, Regina tried to kill her with nothing more than a dagger and her own two hands. If it hadn't been for magical intervention, your mother would be dead."

They were silent for a moment as Emma let that new piece of information soak in. After a time, her eyes brightened in thought. "What kind of magical intervention?"

David straightened. "She made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. He placed a magical protection spell on us that prevented Regina from harming us or our kingdom, and, in return, we agreed to not put Regina to death for her crimes."

The sheriff narrowed her eyes in thought. "That seems like a really light deal for Rumple. Don't his deals normally involve someone getting screwed over?"

"Well," he gave a half shrug, "yeah, normally. But this one turned out fine for us."

"Really?" She stood up and began to pace the small space in the office. "It turned out fine for you, so  _who_ got screwed over, then? Because  _someone_ had to. Rumpelstiltskin doesn't make deals without  _someone_ getting the short end of the stick."

With a shake of his head, he answered in a baffled tone, "I hadn't really thought about it. Your mother and our kingdom were safe, and that's all I really cared about. Where are you going with this, Emma?"

"If  _you_  didn't get screwed, and  _Mary Margaret_ didn't get screwed _,_ and  _your kingdom_ didn't get screwed, then who the hell got screwed? Think about it for a second." She stopped pacing and crossed her arms as she waited.

"If you're saying it was Regina, then I think you need to think again." He grunted in frustration as he tried to hold his anger in check. "Rumpelstiltskin and Regina work together. They're a team. Of course he'd want to free her."

"Are you serious?" Emma threw a hand in the air out of her own frustration. "Have you seen how they interact with each other? Regina hates his guts, and there has to be a reason for that more than they had a 'bff fight'. I mean, that kind of hate doesn't just happen overnight, and the only reason they get along at all is because Regina is trying to reform and Belle keeps Rumple in check. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the entire town would have gone up in flames by now."

She ran a hand over her face and took in a deep breath to calm herself down. "Look, I think it's obvious that Gold has his own agenda, and the only person who knows what that agenda is would be Gold. If he wanted Regina alive, then it wasn't because they were pals. It's because he needed her for some other purpose, something he couldn't get anyone or anything else to do for him. The only person he's ever done anything for out of love or kinship is Belle."

"Regina's not a good person, Emma." David shook his head in irritation. "You don't know all the things she's done, all the pain she's caused, but you have to trust me and your mother when we tell you that she's just working an angle. She's not going to change, and she's not going to rest until she's crushed us all and destroyed all of our hopes and dreams. You need to believe us. Regina is far more dangerous than you think she is. You have no idea what the woman is capable of."

Emma blinked at his last few words. They ran around in her mind because she'd heard them before from the woman in question. At the time, she thought Regina was blowing smoke. Now, however, she realized Regina had been entirely accurate. David, on the other hand, was wrong. Now Emma really did know what Regina was capable of, and, though it scared her, she was determined not to let it deter her.

"Stay here and watch the station, deputy," she said through a clenched jaw as she pulled her jacket on and headed to the door. "Call me if there's an emergency."

"Emma," David called after her. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"To pick up Henry," she called over her shoulder as she walked out the door and away from an argument she was quickly growing tired of.


	6. Chapter 6

The only positive, as far as Regina was concerned, to come from the curse breaking was the fact that no one bothered her anymore as she went about her errands. As mayor for the town, it was nearly impossible to go anywhere from picking up her dry cleaning to going to a movie without someone wanting to speak to her about some trivial matter or the other. As The Evil Queen, no one wanted to be around her unless absolutely necessary.

It made shopping for groceries go much more quickly.

Of course, the fact she no longer shopped for two but only for one also made quick work of ticking items from the grocery list, but that was a far less pleasant reality. There was a time not too far in the past when she could recall being irritated with a young and mischievous Henry who tried to sneak fruit snacks and candy bars into her shopping basket when he thought she wouldn't notice. Now, she would give anything just have that time back with him. He could sneak in as much as he wanted, and she wouldn't bat an eye.

With a heavy sigh, she slowly walked among the produce, looking for fresh spinach and kale for her salads, something Henry would have rolled his eyes at. After plucking them from the shelf and dropping them in her basket, she considered her list as she ignored the harsh looks and irritated grumbling of the other store patrons.

Her final items were bananas, cherries, strawberries, and apples, the ingredients she used in her morning shakes. It didn't take long to find the first three and pile them into her basket. The last ingredient was one about which she was very particular, and she slowed down to take her time as she picked up and began to inspect the apples she planned to buy.

"Planning on poisoning someone soon?" Ruby Lucas's voice cut through Regina's bubble of calm.

"Soon? No." Regina rolled her eyes and continued to cherry pick through the apples.

The younger woman raised an eyebrow. "I thought you got all of your apples for free."

"Apple trees only produce apples during certain times, dear. In case you missed it, this is not the time of the year for trees in this area to produce. I'm sure you're familiar with basic agriculture, or," Regina shot a defiant gaze over at the other woman, "do you only use trees for more personal, biological needs?" She raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow in refute.

Not missing a beat, Ruby shrugged. "No, I use your flowerbed for that."

With a roll of her eyes, Regina turned back to the apples, effectively dismissing any further conversation with the other woman. Ruby, however, was not ready to end their little back-and-forth. "For someone trying to change their image, you're not doing a very good job." She nodded toward the fruit in the older woman's hand. "I'd stay away from apples, if I were you."

Regina's jaw flexed with the immense effort it took not to snap. Carefully and precisely placing the fruit into her basket, she turned fully to Ruby and responded in a clipped, controlled tone. "Miss Lucas, if your purpose for this intrusion was to annoy me, you've succeeded. You may stop now. I'm done here, and I would appreciate it if you would stop bothering me. I have other places to be."

Ruby gracefully stepped to the side but continued to talk to the former mayor. "I'm not really trying to annoy you. That's just an added bonus." She grinned at the hard look she received. "I'm really trying to be helpful. Look, Emma and Henry say you're trying to, you know, be better, and I figure that," she gave a noncommittal shrug of her shoulders, "if they're willing to give you a shot, then maybe I will, too."

At that revelation, Regina came to a sudden stop and turned to completely face the other woman. "Why?" Her voice was harsh, the edge sharp enough to cut.

"Because," Ruby glanced around, suddenly losing her nerve, "I know what it's like to be out of control, and," she fidgeted under the intense scrutiny she was receiving, "you might not have intended to do it, but your curse gave me a second chance. I figured I'd return the favor."

Regina narrowed her eyes. "Your grandmother has tried to kill me since the curse has been broken."

"Yeah, but, to be fair, you were on a rampage, and we'd just remembered all the crap you'd done to us. Also, you  _caught_ her arrow in midair. That's a whole different level of terrifying." Despite herself, Ruby blushed. "But it was also kind of cool, now that I think about it."

The older woman's frown deepened as she considered what her next move would be. She was unsettled by this random outreach from one of the people in the town. It felt wrong, and she couldn't help but wonder what Ruby was actually after. No one tried to make friends with The Evil Queen. That's just not how things are done. Crossing her arms and looking down her nose at Ruby, Regina finally responded with a small smirk on her lips, "It's remarkable the skills you can fine tune when you have years in exile in which to practice."

"I can imagine," came the quiet, uncomfortable response.

Regina decided to play along for now. "In what could be perceived as an unfortunate fact, apples happen to be my favorite fruit." She uncrossed her arms and shifted her weight. "I'm not going to stop eating them simply because other people have a bad association with them to me."

Ruby shrugged. "Suit yourself. I just thought I'd throw that out there." She turned to walk away, and was stunned when she heard Regina call out to her.

"Ms. Lucas?" The former mayor's voice was lighter, less sure. The younger woman turned back around to make sure she'd heard correctly. "Thank you for the advice." Even more shocked, Ruby simply nodded in answer and turned on her heels to leave.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, Mom, do we have to eat at home tonight?" Henry shoved his hands in his pockets and gave his best pleading face to the tall blonde next to him as they walked from the bus stop. "I mean, I like Grandma's cooking, but…"

"Yeah, I could go for a burger, too, kid." Emma chuckled. "Tell you what, why don't we go to Granny's for dinner tonight, just the two of us?"

"Really?" His eyes lit up with excitement. "I mean," quickly, he tried to catch himself as he remembered his grandparents' feelings, "should we… maybe invite Grandma and Gramps?"

Emma's eyes glazed over as she thought about her day, and she realized the last thing she wanted to do was see her parents any time soon. "Nah, I think they'll understand if we need a little mother/son bonding time, don't you?"

Henry's smile beamed. "Can we get dessert, too?"

"Now you're pushing it, kid." She ruffled his hair as she smiled down at him. "What kind of dessert?"

He cocked his head to the side and thought about it. "Ice cream?"

She pretended to consider it. "Okay, but, if we're getting ice cream later, then you have to do your homework now." At his groan, she just smirked more. "Come on, you can do it in the station while I finish out some paperwork, and then we'll go to Granny's for dinner. Sound good?"

The little boy sulked for a moment before agreeing, and they made their way quickly to the Sheriff's office. Henry settled at the deputy's desk while Emma sat at her own and began the ongoing and tedious process of completing the forms, reports, and other assorted papers associated with her position.

After a time, Henry broke the silence with a sigh. "Hey, Mom?" She grunted her response but stopped what she was doing to give him her attention. "Did you see Regina today?"

She blinked at him. "Why would you think I went to see her today?"

"When Gramps dropped me off at the bus stop, he said you went to go see her this morning, and that's why you didn't walk me to the bus." He shrugged. "I was just wondering if you saw her."

Emma made a face. There were many different issues at play, and she wasn't sure she wanted to discuss any of them with her son just yet. The thought struck her oddly. Her son? She frowned, realizing something about the woman they were currently discussing. "Yeah, I saw her."

"What did you talk about?" He sounded curious yet cautious.

"Just some stuff." She licked her lips as she considered how best to approach this subject. "Henry, you know she's trying, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I  _told_ you all the stuff she did to try to get you and Mary Margaret back. She's trying to change." He frowned. "Did she do something else bad? Is that why you went to go see her?"

She should have seen that coming. "No, kid, she didn't do anything else bad. I went to go see her just to talk. That's it; I promise." She chewed on the inside of her lip. She really had no idea how to breech the topic that had suddenly grabbed hold of her and would not let go. "Henry, can I ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the truth, okay?"

He gave her a concerned and slightly frightened look, but nodded yes.

She stood and walked over to him, squatting down so she was eye level. "You believe she's really trying to change, right?" He nodded yes, sensing there was more coming and deciding to stay quiet. "Well, so do I, but I think maybe a lot of people don't, and I think your mom," she winced as soon as the phrase was out. It had been a long time since she called Regina Henry's mom, and she wondered why it had slipped out just now. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I think Regina is going to need all the help she can get right now. The stuff she's going through is really hard, and she needs people around her that love her and believe in her. Does that make sense?"

"You mean," he gave it an honest moment's thought. "She needs people around to tell her when she's doing the right thing?"

"Yeah, exactly," Emma gave an encouraging smile and nod. "You still think of her as your mom, don't you?" Henry shifted uneasily in his chair. "It's okay, kid. You can be honest. Remember? I want you to tell me the truth."

His eyes didn't meet hers, but he answered honestly, "Yeah, I do."

She couldn't help but give a grim smile at the sound of defeat in his voice. The pull between wanting to be a 'good guy' and still thinking of the 'evil queen' as his mother was probably more difficult than she had considered before. That had been selfish on her part; she should have considered Henry's feelings on it more, but she was going to fix that now. "That's okay. She raised you for 10 years. It doesn't hurt my feelings if you still think of her as your mom."

His eyes finally met hers. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, kid, I'm sure. In fact, I'm so sure that I think maybe we should work something out so you can spend some time with her if you want. What do you think about that?" On the outside, her features showed reassurance and calm. On the inside, she was terrified of telling her parents about what she was about to do. "I think it could really help her out if you were around more." Emma also considered how much it might actually help Henry out, too. He was clearly having issues with Regina suddenly not being in his life anymore. Now that the dust had somewhat settled and it was clear she was trying to be a better person, Emma was starting to sense Henry's desire to see Regina again.

"Like alone, or would you be there with us?" His face showed his conflict.

"At first, I think I'd like to be there, but," she shrugged, "maybe later we can talk about you two being alone together again. What do you think about that?"

"I think I'd like that," he answered with a small glimmer of excitement in his voice. "But," again he frowned. "What do I call her?"

"Well," she said with a grin, "you could call her mom."

At the suggestion, he started to panic. "But what about you? You're my mom, too."

"Yeah, well, she was there first, and, if we're going to work out something where we all get along, I think she'd react better if you called  _her_ mom and me something else. Don't you?" She tilted her head in question.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He gave it some thought, and then smiled. "How about I call her mom and I call you Ma?"

She nodded, smiling as she stood up. "I think that works. How much more do you have left on your homework?"

"I have to finish writing this essay, and then I'm done." He looked at the clock. "I think I might be soon."

"Sounds good, kid, but don't rush through it. Make sure you do a good job." She plopped back down in her chair. "I don't want to have to explain to your mom," again with the 'your mom'. She rolled her eyes at herself. "Why you don't have all A's anymore."

He groaned as he turned back to his work. "I'll be careful."


	8. Chapter 8

A sigh of relief escaped Regina at the bean grinder's steady, rhythmic sound. The thought that coffee would soon be hers for the drinking was one of the very small joys she still had in her otherwise mundane and depressing existence.

The fact that the smell of coffee still reminded her of Sheriff Swan was a small annoyance. Coffee was one of her vices she could still partake in, and she wasn't going to let something as trivial as Emma Swan stand in the way of a good cup of finely blended and brewed coffee.

As she poured the hot water into her French press, she glanced out of her kitchen window and across her backyard. The morning sun looked warm and inviting, though she knew it was chilly this morning, and she gave a hum as she considered going out into her backyard to do a little weeding instead of reading her paper this morning.

Perhaps she would weed the garden after she read the paper? It was at least entertaining to see what the plebeians had to say regarding their next major complaint about her. The paper was often filled with letters to the editor demanding she be, at the least, placed in jail and, at the most, killed in some horrible fashion. She wished she could say the letters didn't get to her, but, on some level, they did, though not because she was personally offended by them. She was more concerned with Henry reading them and having to deal with that kind of hatred and vitriol. She sincerely hoped none of the loathing thrown her way was ever cast upon her son, but she had no way of knowing for sure. Henry had always been slightly bullied in school, and she still worried that it was happening. Her only solace was the knowledge that it likely was not simply because of who his biological family was.

Still, it bothered her that she didn't know how he was doing in school or if he had managed to make friends finally. She wanted so much for him to be a happy, healthy child.

With a deep sigh, she picked up the paper and began to flip through the pages as she waited for the coffee. The usual articles were there ranging from local productions of musicals and plays all the way to brief information on the outside world's political issues. None of it really interested her anymore. Why should it? It didn't have any effect on her.

Rolling her eyes, she poured her coffee and strolled onto her back deck to settle and read the editorials and letters to the editor. One particular letter caught and held her attention, but not for its high level of disgust or animosity toward her. Instead, it was a letter that could arguably be considered supportive of her. The very fact that it existed at all shocked her so strongly she had to stop reading the first paragraph and start over again by reading it aloud just to make certain she was reading it correctly.

"I realize this will be an unpopular opinion," she read quietly to herself, "but I think it's about time we seriously considered the issues regarding our local politics versus how government is run beyond our city limits. We've all said it at least once by now, and I think it's time we all acknowledged the fact that there is only one person who actually knows and understands how to deal with the outside political structure versus the politics of our unique situation. I realize no one wants to hear it, but the fact is that person is Regina Mills."

She stopped reading and rubbed at her eyes. This had to be a hoax. "I know a lot of you want to burn her at the stake or lock her up for everything she's done, and I can't say that I completely disagree with you. Also, she did some very illegal though difficult to prove things while she was in office as the acting mayor."

Ah, there it was. She knew the positive couldn't last. However, this letter was unusual. She read on, "Still, she's less corrupt than a lot of politicians out there. I mean that in the sense of just politicians, and not in the sense of a monarchy. That's a completely different subject, and I'm not getting into it. But we all have to admit that Regina was a very competent mayor. She was good at handling the budget, on top of all of the paperwork associated with the office, and great at handling crises that are specific to towns."

Regina raised an eyebrow. Someone was actually paying attention to how she did her job. This was interesting. "Though I don't think she ought to be making laws, which isn't what a mayor does anyway, and I'm definitely not okay with her using the office as she would if she were a queen, which isn't something I think any of us would let happen again, I do think we should seriously consider allowing her to be the acting mayor again. Whether we like it or not, she's really the only one who can do the job."

The former mayor's jaw dropped in disbelief. Someone was actually suggesting she be mayor again? The whole thing was insane. There's no way a single citizen in the town would support the idea. "Like I said before, I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I think everyone should at least think on it. There's a town hall meeting in two days. I'm going to bring it up then, and I'm hoping everyone will bring their well thought out, solid, non-hate filled thoughts on this matter with them. If you want to discuss it before then, you know where to find me. Sheriff Emma Swan."

Regina sat in absolute silence, unable and slightly unwilling to fully understand what she had just read. It was simply too improbable. The Savior does not suggest putting The Evil Queen back in any type of authority. Why would she do that? It didn't make any sense.

With a huff, she tossed the paper onto the table beside her and started to reach for her cup of coffee. She was stopped short and severely startled when a pair of light eyes looked at her from what she had thought was the unoccupied chair next to her.

"Miss Swan!" It was only with great control that Regina didn't literally jump out of her chair. "What are you doing here  _again_  this morning?"

"I came to talk to you, but you didn't answer the door or your cell, so I figured you were out here again. Is this like a thing?" She glanced around the yard. "You drink a cup of coffee and read the paper in your backyard in the morning?"

The brunette narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips in thought. "How long have you been there?"

Emma shrugged. "Since about halfway through my letter."

With a roll of her eyes, Regina reached for her coffee and took a long sip. "What do you want?"

The sheriff feigned hurt feelings. "What? I don't even get a 'thanks Emma for the nice letter'? You're just going to ask me what I want?"

"I believe that's what I'm doing, yes." Regina sipped her coffee. "But, for what it's worth, thank you for the letter, though I suspect your citizens are going to be very unhappy with you once they finish reading their paper this morning, and, tell me, Sheriff, how do your parents feel about these opinions of yours?"

"Honestly?" At Regina's small nod yes, Emma made a face that expressed a very high level of annoyance. "They're pissed, but I don't think I care."

A well-manicured eyebrow lifted in surprise. "Trouble amongst the Charmings? Interesting."

"You know what?" Emma snapped back, not bothering to hold the irritation out of her voice, "I  _am not_  a Charming. In case you missed it, my last name is Swan. Oh, wait, I know you know that because that's all you ever call me." She lowered her voice into a mocking tone of the other woman's. "Miss Swan don't do this. Sheriff Swan do that. Yo, Swan bitch, I hate your guts." She rolled her eyes. "I think everyone in this town forgets that I wasn't raised by Snow White and her Prince Charming. It's getting old."

It was Regina's turn to feign being affronted. "I have  _never_ called you 'Swan bitch', though I've thought it, but thinking it and saying it are two very different things, Sheriff."

"I can't believe it. Did Regina Mills just crack a joke?" Emma smirked, tilting her head slightly. "Who are you and what have you done with that bitch, the Mayor?"

"In case you haven't noticed, Ms. Swan," Regina answered coolly, though her eyes betrayed the enjoyment she was actually getting from this conversation, "I am no longer a mayor nor a queen. I'm simply an irritant to the community."

"I'm working on fixing that so that you'll be the bitch Mayor again, just give me a little time." The blonde wiggled her eyebrows and her smirk grew slightly mischievous. "This annoying my parents thing is a lot of fun."

Regina snorted. "I see you've hit adolescent, though I'm not sure you ever actually left it." She waved a hand in the air to dismiss their current train of thought. "Why  _are_ you here, Sheriff?"

"I came to see if you wanted to have dinner with me and Henry tonight." Emma gave an honest smile and tried not to wince at the hopeful yet infinitely sad look in the other woman's eyes. "Henry said he wanted to see you, and we're both getting tired of Mary Margaret's food, so I figured it's a win-win for all of us."

" _All_ of us? I wouldn't be so sure. I'll have to be in the same room with you while you display your horrid table manners. I would consider that a loss." Regina stood, picking up her paper and taking it and her mug with her to the back door. "One of Henry's favorite meals is a chicken dish I used to cook often for him. I'm willing to make that tonight."

Emma's smile brightened. "Sounds good. What can I bring?"

"Nothing," the older woman responded with no inflection. "I'm asking you to my home. I don't expect you to bring anything except my son, and I'll try to overlook the fact that I'm only being allowed to see him in a supervised visit." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Dinner is at 6:30. Try not to be late, Sheriff. I think you can see yourself out the same way you found your way in."

"Right," Emma nodded, but she was talking to a closed door. She stood and straightened her jacket as she walked to the back gate. "Well, it's a start," she mumbled to herself as she left.


	9. Chapter 9

"Have you lost your mind?" Mary Margaret's voice cut through the diner's usual low level lunch time volume.

Emma glanced up from her plate and picked up her soda to take a long sip as she watched the petite brunette storm her way across the small room. Voices lowered and eyes turned to watch the encounter everyone had been wondering about since the paper had come out that morning. Instead of saying anything at all, the Sheriff remained quietly seated at her booth and waited for the impending fight.

Finally reaching the booth, Mary Margaret threw the paper down on an open spot on the table. "What is this?"

The blonde calmly looked from the paper back up to the standing woman. "The paper?"

"Don't play games with me, Emma," the older woman shot back. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. I can't believe you'd even  _suggest_  putting that woman back in power. She's corrupt. She's manipulative. She's self-serving. She's…"

"Just like every politician in the United States, expect she looks better in a power suit than most of them do," Emma interrupted, not really caring how rude nor how impetuous she sounded.

"Are you really trying to make a joke right now? This  _is not_  a laughing matter." Mary Margaret gave a frustrated huff as she sat down across from her daughter. "We're not doing this. We're not letting that woman take back the mayor's office so she can control and manipulate this town. Don't you think she's done enough damage already?"

Emma winced. It was hard to argue the point. "If you read it, then you know what I think, and, as the acting Sheriff, I have to say that it's been a lot harder to deal with situations in this town due to lack of leadership since she's been removed from the mayor's office." There was an audible gasp from the patrons of the diner at the implied insult of her statement. She ignored it. "You're a grade school teacher, and David is," she paused for a moment and then shrugged. "Actually, I don't know  _what_ he is, but he's definitely  _not_ a politician, and both of you may have ruled a kingdom, but that's a lot different than running a small town in Maine."

"So we'll learn." Her mother's eyes roared with her anger. "If Regina can do it, so can we. But I want to make one thing perfectly clear. We  _are not_  allowing that woman to be mayor again."

"By 'we', do you mean the entire town or just you and David?" The blonde knew she was pressing her luck, but she felt she needed to make her point. The town infrastructure was honestly having problems running because no one really knew what to do about it.

Mary Margaret came up short, caught off guard by the question. "Well, the town, of course."

"Okay, then," Emma said slowly so she carefully picked out her words. "If the entire town hates the idea, then let them shoot it down in the town hall meeting in two days. No harm, no foul."

"This is ridiculous." Her mother threw her hands up in the air. "I just don't understand you, Emma. Why are you taking  _her_ side? Since when have you decided that she deserves the kind of credit you're giving her? She doesn't deserve it."

"Maybe not," the sheriff replied with a shrug, "but I'm going to give it to her anyway."

"But  _why?_ " The brunette practically hissed the question.

"Look, we need to start mending bridges and extending olive branches. We're all stuck here together, and this push/pull thing we all have going on is going to get old really quick. I already  _told you_  what's wrong with Regina, and it's not that she's evil." Emma glanced around at their audience as she considered how much she really wanted to reveal about a person who wasn't there to defend themselves. "She's  _broken_ , but she's on the mend, and Henry and I want to encourage her. How many times do I have to ask you this question? Don't you think it's better to have a healed and somewhat happy Regina on our side than a broken and despairing Regina who still wants to destroy us all?"

Much to her delight, several of the people in the diner inclined their heads as if to say she had a very valid point. "It's not that I'm taking a side," she added almost as an afterthought. "I'm trying to do my job, which is to do what's in the best interests of the citizens of Storybrooke."

"Your  _job_  is protecting the town. You're  _our_  Savoir, not Regina's. You're  _our_ daughter, not  _her_ White Knight. You can't save the unsavable, and some people are more worthy of being disposed of than saved," Mary Margaret shot back. As soon as the words left her mouth, she snapped it shut. Her eyes showed surprise, and her face showed the horror she felt at what she'd just said. "I don't mean to imply," she started to backpedal, "I mean, I know how you feel about comparing someone to something that's disposable…"

"Save it," Emma shot back. "Regina has to have something in her worth trying to save. She raised Henry, and look how he turned out. That didn't happen on accident. He's a good kid. How did he get that way? It wasn't because Regina was a horrible parent." She stood, tossing money down on the table. "People are not things to be disposed of, Mary Margaret. People are people.  _No one_ deserves to be thought of as worth only enough to be tossed away when they're no longer needed or wanted." She practically snarled. "Henry and I are having dinner with Regina tonight. Don't wait up."

With that, Emma turned and stormed out of the diner, not bothering to care at the scene they had just made. Instead, she made a beeline for the apartment she shared with her parents. She packed a bag for her and Henry with a few days' worth of clothes and things to keep Henry occupied, and she took everything down to her car. She really didn't know what her final plans were for that night, but she knew that she and Henry were going to spend it somewhere other than her parents' place.

She just couldn't take it anymore. She needed a break.

 


	10. Chapter 10

David sat in his apartment and appreciated the deceptive harmony and serenity surrounding him. He was alone, which was a rarity. His wife had gone out during lunch on an errand he was sure he didn't want to know anything about. His daughter was working, which, he supposed, he ought to be doing as well, but he liked to take lunch later than she did. Emma normally took lunch at noon, and he liked to take it between 1 and 1:30, which staggered the sheriff's station to ensure someone was always around, just in case.

Henry was, of course, at school. He wouldn't be out for another few hours, which meant David had a precious few minutes alone in his home. A man's home might be his castle, but his home was starting to feel more like Grand Central Station. Any time there were less than three people in the apartment was a time to be treasured.

Since Emma and Mary Margaret's return, the town had been in a lull. He knew it couldn't last. It was only a matter of time before something happened that would stir the pot, cause a tiff, and force him to step up in the role of parent, spouse, monarch, deputy, all of the above, or at least some of it.

So, for now, he took what little reprieve he could while it was there.

His peace lasted for all of the first twenty minutes of his lunch break. After which, his wife came barreling into the apartment in a clear rage. The front door slammed, she stomped to the island where he was sedately seated drinking his coffee, and the first words out of her mouth nearly made him spew it across the counter top.

" _Your_ daughter refuses to accept that Regina being allowed to be mayor again is a bad idea. What's more," her eyes narrowed, "she's taking  _Regina's_ side. David, I'm worried. I think Regina's done something to Emma."

He swallowed down the coffee in a hard gulp and blinked a couple of times to clear out the tears from the pain of swallowing. "What do you mean?" He cleared his throat. "You think she might have cursed her or enchanted her or something?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, but something's not right. I would accuse Regina of stealing Emma's heart and controlling her, but I know for a fact Emma's heart can't be taken like that." Mary Margaret frowned deeply as she removed her coat and hung it up while she continued explaining. "Think about it. We get back home, and Emma suddenly thinks Regina's worth saving. Why? What happened all of the sudden for Emma to go from blaming Regina for everything we've all been through to saying she's some sort of broken and lost soul in need of help? How does a person shift gears like that so quickly?"

He let it all roll around in his mind as he watched his wife fix herself a cup of coffee. He had wondered the same thing the day before when he'd approached Emma about Regina. Since then, he'd had time to think about it, and, upon serious consideration, he was starting to see other sides to the issue. "You know," he was trying to tread lightly, but he knew this would be a challenge. "Regina did a lot to try to get you and Emma back when you were away."

"That's only because she got us there in the first place, and," her eyes dared him to forget all the pain and suffering they'd been through, "need I remind you, David, that, had it not been for Regina, none of this ever would have happened?"

"I know," he pushed his empty mug away and leaned back a little on his stool. "But she didn't have to try to help. She could have done just the opposite." He held his hand up to keep from being interrupted. "I know she did it for Henry because she's trying to prove to him that she's changing, and I know you're going to say that she's faking it to try to earn our trust back." He shrugged. "You might be right. You know I wanted to execute her, so I definitely know how dangerous she can be, but," he took in a deep breath, "she  _did_ help rescue you, and she told Henry to come live with us because she wanted him to be happy. I honestly think she's trying to do the right thing. At least, _for now_ she's trying. Later? Who knows, but wouldn't it be nice if we were all on the same side for at least a little while? Don't you get tired of constantly fighting?"

Mary Margaret rolled her eyes, and he could see her jaw flex with the effort not to yell. "That's almost exactly what Emma said in the diner today." She shook her head, mumbling to herself, "Like father, like daughter."

"Look, all I'm saying is that a lot happened while you two were away, and I think that  _maybe_ ," David held his hands out in a show of sincerity, "we should think about at least letting Regina try. I'm not saying we should just let her do whatever and be blind about her actions. I think we should watch her, but you know the old saying, 'Keep your friends close..."

"And your enemies closer." She nodded before taking a thoughtful sip of her coffee. "Emma said she and Henry are having dinner with Regina tonight."

"Oh really?" David raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"She told me not to wait up. I don't know what that means, but I think," his wife began to look sheepish, "I might have made her angry enough when I went to talk to her at lunch that she's planning on spending at least tonight somewhere else."

His face fell into a scowl, and he stood to check Emma and Henry's belongings. He found items missing and two suitcases gone. Coming back into the main area of the apartment, he pointed to the table to indicate she needed to take a seat. "I think you need to tell me exactly what happened at lunch."


	11. Chapter 11

"Miss Swan," Regina raised an eyebrow as she gave the blonde the once over, "you're here earlier than I expected."

"Yeah, well, you told me not to be late. Besides, the kid needs to do his homework before dinner," Emma looked down at Henry, who rolled his eyes, "and I thought maybe I could help you out since you were nice enough to invite us."

The brunette tilted her head in question but stepped aside to allow her guests to come in. "Henry, would you like to do your homework in my study?"

The boy stopped and looked up with an expression somewhere between shock and being skeptical. "You don't normally let me go in there."

"I thought perhaps that would be a less distracting place for you to work since Ms. Swan and I will be cooking in the kitchen together," Regina answered smoothly as she took their coats and hung them in the closet.

"Okay." Henry drew the word out as he looked to Emma for guidance.

The blonde shrugged. "Makes sense to me, kid. You've got that essay to finish rewrites on." She looked at Regina and made a face. "His first draft looks like it's bleeding."

Regina frowned deeply. "I normally proof read his assignments before he turns them in." The restraint not to roll her eyes or make a biting remark regarding Emma's level of education was evident on her face and in her posture. "Henry, would you like for me to read your second draft tonight before you leave?"

"Well," again he pulled the one syllable word out as he glanced between the two women as if trying to understand the odd truce they seemed to have developed. Though he'd been aware of it, seeing it first hand was a bit unnerving. "Maybe?"

"You know I'd be happy to," the brunette answered with a small upturn to her lips. "Why don't you go into my study and work on it now while we finish dinner?"

Henry made a face. "Sure," he muttered as he headed for the study, glancing back once to make sure he was witnessing what he thought he was witnessing and deciding that knowing about something was way different than actually seeing it.

Once Henry was out of range, Regina turned to Emma with a face that explicitly stated she wasn't about to take anything other than the truth from the other woman. "Why are you  _really_ here so early, Sheriff?"

"Mary Margaret and I had a disagreement today during lunch, and," the younger woman shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the former mayor, "I wanted to talk to you about that, actually. Is there any way I could talk you into some coffee? Maybe I can explain everything while we make dinner?"

"I'll make dinner." Regina's voice was carefully neutral. "You will talk."

* * *

"You and your mother had a fight regarding me in the middle of Granny's Diner during the lunch hour rush?" Regina gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head as she continued to chop vegetables for the salad.

Emma's eyes remained on the coffee cup held between her two hands. "Yup."

"You then proceeded to go home, pack your bags with a few of your meager belongings, and run away from your issues, but you have no plan as to where you're going to go or for how long?" The older woman finished chopping and dumped the items into a large bowl so they could be tossed with a light vinaigrette.

"Basically." The corner of Emma's lip twitched down as her eyes darted up to the other woman's only to dart back down to the coffee again.

"And you plan to take Henry along with you on this venture?" Regina's movements were brisk, her irritation showing as she tossed the salad.

At this, Emma's eyes finally met Regina's. "No," she said firmly. "That's why I'm telling you all of this. Look, I don't care if I sleep in my car or at the office or whatever, but I don't want Henry wondering where he's going to sleep next. I remember what that's like. It's no way for a kid to live, so I was wondering if you'd watch him for a few days until I can get this all sorted out."

Regina stopped moving. She stared at the blonde, eyes cold and hard as she rolled over in her mind what she was being told. "You want to know if I'll look after  _my_  son until  _you're_  ready to take him away from me  _again_?" Her jaw flexed.

Emma ignored the baiting in the question. "It's either that or he stays in a room with me at Granny's," she tried to sound assured, though she felt very uneasy about what she was asking. She knew the reactions both the town as a whole and her parents in particular would have regarding Henry again living with Regina. It could get nasty very quickly.

"You do realize the entire town would be at my doorstep demanding I release Henry from captivity the moment they found out he was staying here again, don't you?" Despite her desire to have Henry back with her, Regina was equally intent on keeping him from having to witness too much violence or hatred. He'd seen enough already. "How do you propose to deal with that, Sheriff?"

"I could sleep in my car outside your house?" The blonde gave her best smirk. "You'd have your own, personal security detail."

Regina finally rolled her eyes. "Always the White Kn…"

"Don't." Emma's voice cut in with a harshness that surprised the other woman. "I'm no one's White Knight. I'm the an ex-bounty hunter who somehow managed to become the sheriff of a small town, the daughter of fairy tale characters, and mostly confused about why my life couldn't have just stayed nice and quiet. Dealing with people jumping bail is a hell of lot less chaotic than dealing with witches, fairies, and royalty." She ran a hand through her hair. "I'll think of something, but I don't want Henry to live in a more unstable condition than he already is. Kids need stability. They need to feel safe."

Narrowing her eyes, Regina stopped working on dinner and crossed her arms as she considered Emma's words. "I'm surprised at you, Miss Swan. That's a very adult thing to say."

"I can act like an adult if it means taking care of Henry," Emma shot back. She didn't bother to put bite in her words. She was tired, and it was starting to show. "He misses you. He and I've been talking about it. To be honest, he'd feel better if I was here, too, and I can't blame him. There's a lot of history in this house, and he's still trying to work out whether or not you're going to try to manipulate or hurt him again."

Regina said nothing. Instead, she glanced away so as not to show the hurt in her eyes at the thought that her son was still frightened of her.

"Honestly, I don't know what the best option is right now. I know that David and Mary Margaret would let us come back without question, but I'm not ready to deal with them right now. I don't think it would be in Henry's best interests to be there right now either because," Emma stopped herself. It was clear she wasn't sure she wanted to reveal all of her thoughts to a woman who had been her enemy for so long. Changing direction slightly, she started again. "Because he's just now settling down and accepting all of us for who we are and dealing with who we were. I don't want mess that up."

The kitchen was eerily quiet for a time as both women thought over the situation. Emma finished her coffee, cleaned her mug, and left it to dry while Regina finished fixing dinner. As she began to plate, the brunette finally broke the silence. "Stay here, Ms. Swan."

Emma's head whipped around. "What?"

"Stay here. My home has plenty of room, it would prevent the scorn that would otherwise likely come my direction from the town, and, most importantly," Regina made eye contact, "it would make Henry feel safer. I have no desire for my son to feel unsafe in his own home."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "So you want me to stay here for Henry's sake?"

"Yes," Regina gave a small smile that didn't actually make it to her eyes. "For Henry."

The sheriff nodded her consent. "I'll get our stuff out of the car after dinner."

"Speaking of," Regina replied smoothly as she picked up plates to move them to the dining room, "move that eyesore you call a car to the back of the house next to mine. It's disrupting my otherwise pristine landscaping."

"Sure." Emma rolled her eyes. Picking up the rest of the plates, she followed Regina into the other room.


	12. Chapter 12

"She's not answering her phone," Mary Margaret paced her small apartment. "Where do you think she could be? It's nearly 9."

David frowned deeply. "I don't know, but, wherever she is, it's some place safe. She wouldn't take Henry somewhere that wasn't." He sighed heavily as he ran a hand over his face. "She's not at Granny's, she's not staying with Ruby, and she's not at the station."

"The last place we know about is Regina's." The little brunette stopped talking as a look of abject horror crossed her face. "David, you don't suppose…?" She let the thought trail off.

"It's possible. When you two were away, Henry spent a few nights with Regina when I had to work late shifts at the station for whatever reason, but I don't know how likely it is Emma is there right now. What are the odds Regina would allow Emma to stay in her house?"

"Without hurting her?" At his nod, Mary Margaret's face steeled. "Not great."

"She might not hurt Emma if it meant doing more damage to her relationship with Henry. You know how she is about him." David stood up to retrieve his keys and a jacket. "She's trying to do better by him."

"I can't believe you believe her." She followed him, picking up her coat along the way. "You know she's just playing us. There's no way she's honestly trying to be a better person. When we finally figure out what angle she's playing, both you  _and_ Emma owe me an apology, assuming it's not too late by then."

"I'm not saying I buy into it completely. I'm just saying that she's at least putting up a front of trying." He shrugged as he held the door open. "It's a start."

"It's dangerous, like thinking a poisonous snake won't bite you just because it's not coiled to attack." She stepped outside as she pulled her coat on. "Are you driving?"

"Yeah, I thought I might," he answered while he closed and locked the front door.

* * *

The study was blissfully quiet. The only sounds that filled the space were the crackle of the fire in the fireplace, the sound of Regina's pen as she corrected Henry's work, the sound of Henry grunting as he played one of his handheld games, and pages rustling as Emma read through her book.

In the warm space, the scene was a deceptive bubble of harmony until it was shattered by the sound of Emma's phone ringing again.

"You really ought to get that, Ms. Swan. They will continue to call," Regina blandly commented, not bothering to look up from Henry's essay.

Emma calmly turned the page in her book. "I'm in the middle of the chapter, and I can't remember the last time I had the chance to sit down and actually read. She can wait."

Henry looked up from his game. "Ma, what are you reading anyway?" At the word 'Ma', Regina did look up, but only to cock an eyebrow in disapproval before returning to her work.

" _Good Christian,_ " the Sheriff hesitated for a moment, realizing the inappropriateness of the title. " _Belles. Good Christian Bells._ It's a book about pretentious people who act like people they're not in order to gain power, prestige, and undermine the people they call friend to their face and enemy to their back."

"How very  _Peyton Place_ ,"Regina mumbled just loud enough to be heard.

"Or Storybrooke," Emma shot back, not bothering to look at the other woman. Her phone rang again. "That's the fifth time. You'd think she'd get the hint."

Regina gave a dark chuckle. "Your mother is known for her annoying stamina and persistence. It must be where you get it."

"And Henry," the blonde said with a smirk, which earned her another grunt from the former mayor. "I'm not answering the phone."

"And she's not going to stop calling," Regina stated with a sigh.

"Hey, Mom," Henry's voice cut into their odd little dialogue. Regina looked up from her desk. "I'm really tired. Would it be okay if I went to bed now and got up early tomorrow to work on my corrections? I promise I'll actually get up." He tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

The brunette glanced at the clock and noted it was nearly nine at night. "Of course, Henry, but I expect you to be up a half hour earlier."

"Okay," he stood from his place by the fire, turning his game off as he moved. First he went to Emma and gave her a hug and a wish good night. Then he went to Regina. She watched him carefully from the corner of her eye, afraid he might turn around and walk away if she made full eye contact.

He pursed his lips in thought, much like she, herself, often did, and then gave a little smile. "Goodnight, Mom." He stepped closer to her chair, and she turned, pushing away from her desk to give him room. Carefully, he stepped closer and gave her a quick hug. For the briefest of moments, her face displayed the emotion of a woman who felt so very alone that one single action from the only being that might still love her meant the world to her.

He was done just as quickly as he had started, and Regina quickly and silently went back to her corrections. Henry departed quietly, leaving the women alone. It took Regina a few minutes to realize she was being watched, and she looked up with a snap in her voice. "What?"

Emma shrugged. "Nothing. You're just… different …with Henry. It's nice to see you can actually be human."

Regina made a face. "I'm not sure I appreciate what you're implying, Ms. Swan."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Can't you just take a positive comment for what it is?"

"Not when it's a backhanded compliment," Regina answered in turn.

They both grunted and went back to what they were doing.

* * *

"I don't see Emma's car." Mary Margaret's voice was full of anxiety.

David tried not to groan. "It could be parked in the back."

"So we don't know where to look for the body," his wife replied.

"Or so Emma can get to it faster in case there's an emergency where she's needed," he added.

She ignored him. "I don't see any lights on in the front of the house."

At that, he did groan. "It's 9:30. They might be settled down for the night."

"You make it sound like they're friendly. David, they  _are not_ friendly. This whole situation doesn't sit well with me. What is Regina up to? Why would she offer Emma a place to stay the night? Something's not right here." She opened the car door and stepped out. "Come on, we're wasting time just sitting here."

"You know, we could just call Regina's phone," he said as he followed her to the front door of the mayoral mansion.

"No. I need to see Emma and Henry. I need to know they're not hurt or in trouble," she said, voice full of the fear she was actually feeling.

"I agree with you on that," David said as they stopped at the door. "Let's just hope everything is okay." He gave a few hard knocks to the door. "For once, I'd like to be wrong about my gut and have Regina actually surprise us."


	13. Chapter 13

"Crap." Emma rolled her eyes. "Don't answer it."

"In case you've forgotten, Ms. Swan," Regina blandly commented from her place at her desk, "this is still my house, and I'll do as I please."

The pounding at the front door sounded again, and the sheriff rolled her eyes, glancing over to where Regina calmly sat at her desk as she looked over Henry's paper. Emma gave an impatient huff as she poked at the other woman. "So what? You're answering it? You're not answering it? You're waiting to actually age enough to show your  _real_  age  _before_ you answer it?"

Regina's eyes shot up to meet the other woman's, and her face was a mask of irritation. "My age is of no concern to you, and it has nothing to do with the fact your parents are likely pounding at my front door right now."

The blonde shrugged. "I don't know about that. I mean, if you hadn't cast the curse that caused all of you to stop aging, then you wouldn't look 28 years younger than your actual age,  _and_ my parents wouldn't be pounding at your door because none of the events leading up to them pounding at your door would've happened." She looked a little smug as she finished.

"I may yet change my mind and kick you out of my home, Sheriff," the former mayor snapped back as she carefully laid her pen down on her desk.

Emma shrugged. "You might, but I'd just sleep in my car in your driveway. Try explaining  _that_ to my parents, Henry, the town…"

"Enough, Ms. Swan." Again there was pounding at her front door, and this time the brunette slowly stood, brushing the wrinkles from her outfit. "I think they've waited long enough, don't you?"

"No." The younger woman frowned but stood to follow. "They can wait out there until Hell freezes over for all I care."

Regina stopped and turned to face the sheriff. "I never thought the day would come when a Charming would wish such terrible things upon another Charming. Be careful, dear, you're starting to sound a bit like me. If I didn't know better, I'd think you weren't related at all to Snow and Charming," she said in a light yet slightly acrid tone.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I  _am not_  a Charming. I'm a me, and you're in your late 50s." Emma crossed her arms, looking down her nose at the other woman.

"You  _are_ a Charming. You can't change that any more than I can change the fact that I am a Mills or," Regina tilted her head as if what she said was of no consequence, "the Evil Queen, for that matter."

Emma shook her head. "You  _chose_ to be the Evil Queen, Regina. You didn't have to be that way."

The older woman gave a small smirk. "And you  _choose_ to  _not_ be a Charming, even though you  _know_  where you're from and who your parents are. You choose not to know yourself."

"I know who I am," the blonde snapped back. "No one gets to tell me who I am or what I am. I  _know_  who and what I am. There's no one in this world or any other that gets to change me. I worked too hard to get here, and, even though I might not like me all the time, I'm at least content with me. Can you say the same thing, Regina?"

The brunette took in a deep breath of air and exhaled it slowly. "No," she answered quietly. "I can't say that I can. Now that we've settled that, I think we should answer the door before Charming breaks it down again." She turned and started to the front.

Emma realized her mistake. She was supposed to be helping Regina deal with her issues, not poking at the woman's proverbial scars and wounds with a big, sharp, pointy stick. She groaned. This was going to be a lot harder than she'd originally thought, and she never thought it would be easy. Letting out a heavy sigh, she chased after the smaller woman, calling out, "Regina, I'm sorry. I know I don't know everything. Please," she stopped a few feet behind the brunette where she stood in front of the closed front door. "I didn't mean to make it worse. I really do want to know and understand. I mean, when and if you're ready to tell. Now's probably not a good time, though, still, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You deserve better than that."

For a long moment, Regina didn't move nor did she say a word. Then, almost too quietly to be heard, she said, "I'm in my late 60s," before she opened the front door.

* * *

"Emma! Thank God!" Mary Margaret's relief was palatable. "We've been worried sick. Why didn't you answer the phone?"

From where she stood behind and slightly to the left of Regina, Emma could see her mother glaring at her and a portion of her father's face. "Because I didn't want to. I told you where we'd be tonight."

"You could have at least let us known you were okay." David said as he leaned a little to look around Regina. "Considering where you are and who you're with."

"I  _am_ standing right here," Regina stated in a matter-of-fact tone as she stepped back. "At least come inside. It's too cold out there to have this conversation with the door open." She didn't wait to see if they would follow. Instead, she turned and headed back to her study, though she did note the sound of footsteps following her.

As they all settled into the warm room, Regina back at her desk, Emma on her spot on the sofa, and the couple in chairs by the fireplace, Mary Margaret began to speak in earnest to her daughter. "Emma, I'm sorry for the incident today at the diner. I shouldn't have cornered you in a public place like that. I realize that, as sheriff, you have to keep up certain appearances, and…"

"We're really doing this? We're really having this conversation in front of Regina?" Emma raised her eyebrows and nodded her head toward the older woman at the desk.

"Don't mind me," Regina gave a snort. "I'm still proof reading Henry's paper. I can keep myself occupied."

David shifted in his chair. "Emma does have a point. Look, maybe we should all go back home and talk about this? Wouldn't that be better?"

"I'll go back there when I feel like it," his daughter snapped. "Henry's already in bed and asleep. I'm not going to wake him up and move him just so we can go back to your place to talk things over." She made air quotes around the last three words. "Or hug it out or whatever. I need a break. Henry needs to be some place he's familiar with and provides him with some stability, and Regina needs a chance to prove she's not trying to screw us all over."

From her desk, Regina tried not to look as surprised as she felt by the sheriff's words. Her attempt was only somewhat successful, though no one else in the room seemed to notice it.

"Emma, stop being so naïve." Mary Margaret stood up, eyes turning to the brunette at the desk. She directed her words to Regina. "Of course you're trying to screw us over. Whatever you're trying to pull, Regina, I'm going to figure it out. I'm not going to let you hurt me or my family again."

"You really think that's my goal in all of this?" Regina stood and slowly made her way around her desk. "You think I'm trying to hurt  _your_ family? In case you've missed a branch or two in our family tree,  _your_ family is now  _my_ family." At the pixie brunette's confused look, Regina rolled her eyes in disdain. "Henry. We  _all_ share Henry, and we  _all_ want what's best for him. He may be  _your_  grandson, but he's  _my_ son, and I would  _never_ intentionally hurt him." Her jaw flexed and eyes roared with a fiery hate for the petite brunette standing before her even as her voice remained level. "I'm trying to be a better mother, a better  _person,_  for Henry, and, by doing so, that means I can't go off and destroy you, your prince, Emma, or anyone else for that matter. That would defeat my goals, not enable them."

"Please," Mary Margaret rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "You really expect us to believe that? You've had your chances, Regina. Time and time again you could have changed; you could have turned over a new leaf and given up on trying to kill me and destroy our kingdom, yet you didn't. You were hell bent on destruction, revenge, and power. We tried." She glanced quickly back to David. "We did everything we could to allow you to change. We gave you ample…"

"You gave me  _nothing,_ " Regina snapped as she threw a hand out in front of her and used her magic to pin a stunned Mary Margaret to the wall. "You gave me heartache. You gave me broken promises. You gave me lies, deceit…"

David jumped to his feet as Emma scrambled between him and the Evil Queen. She held a hand up to him while she turned her eyes to Regina. "Regina," she said slowly, quietly.

"What do you want, Ms. Swan? I'm a little busy right now," the older woman answered with a sneer on her face and a snarl in her voice.

"I want to understand," the blonde said with as much honest conviction as she could convey in her tone. "I want to help you be that person Henry needs you to be. Remember? You said you were trying to not do this. You said you'd stop using magic for Henry." The worry in her eyes matched the anger in David's as he watched the scene play out.

From her place on the wall, all Mary Margaret could do was struggle and fight for air to breathe. Her eyes flickered between her daughter and the woman holding her hostage, and she began to wonder if Regina would finally kill her.

"He doesn't want to be with me," Regina spat back, hand closing a little more to put even more constriction on Mary Margaret's chest. "He wants nothing to do with the Evil Queen, and that's all I'll ever be to any of you. He'd be happier with me gone. Clearly, it doesn't matter what I do or who I try to be. I know who I'll  _always_ be to any of you."

"That's not true," Emma said. She stepped closer. "Once an addict, always an addict, but you can choose to be a recovering addict. You can choose to fight it." She hesitated, not really knowing what else she could say or do to keep the situation from escalating. "Like I choose to be a Swan, you can choose to not be the Evil Queen. Just because everyone else wants you to be something you're not doesn't mean you have to be that thing. Deep down, Henry knows you can be a good person, and I do, too." She moved so she was directly between Regina and Regina's line of sight to Mary Margaret. "Can you say the same thing?"

The air was charged with high emotions and magic. They waited to see what would happen. David was posed to pounce as soon as he could move around Emma, but Emma kept edging to keep him from having a direct shot. She kept her eyes locked with Regina's, and she silently pleaded for the older woman to stop.

It was the longest minute of Mary Margaret's life as she watched everything unfold. Slowly, gently, she felt her chest become less constricted as her feet found solid ground again. As the magical grip around her completely vanished, she fell to all fours and gasped for air.

David ran to his wife, but Emma remained where she was. "I'm proud of you," she whispered to Regina. "I'll get them out of here. Do you want me to go, too?"

Regina's face was a stone mask. Her eyes were devoid of emotion, and her she lacked any expression. Her voice, when she finally spoke, was low and cold. "No," she replied. "I'm going upstairs to change for bed." With a final look to the Charmings, she glided out of the study and toward the stairs.

"You're a trigger," Emma said when she finally turned to her parents.

By then, Mary Margaret had managed to stand. "What?"

"You and David are a trigger. You're a thing that sets off whatever it is in Regina's head that makes her want to turn to her addiction." Her daughter scowled. "And you're not helping by continuing to accuse her of trying to do something to us. How can she even attempt the process of getting better if we keep insisting she's faking it? She's going to fall down every single time if we keep telling her she's only going to fail at being a better person."

"Emma, did you miss what just happened here?" David's voice was full of his anger. "She nearly killed your mother again tonight."

"Only because she accused Regina of being the Evil Queen and kept poking at her until she broke because," Emma's eyes flashed with her own anger, "you're  _both_  triggers. Until Regina can handle the crap you throw at her all the time, I think you two need to leave her alone. She doesn't go out looking for you two. Maybe you should stop stepping into her space for a while."

"We wouldn't have been here if you'd just answered your phone," he shouted at his daughter. "All you had to do was answer the phone to let us know you were fine."

"I'm a grown woman," she shouted back, not caring if her voice carried up stairs. "I'll do whatever in the hell I want to do."

He seethed with rage. "We are your parents. We have every right to know where you are and if you're okay."

"You have  _no_ right," his daughter countered back. "I'm not a teenager. I don't need someone watching over my shoulder to make sure I'm safe and out of trouble. I've taken care of myself for most of my life, and I can handle things just fine. I don't need either one of you to be helicopters parents. That window of opportunity has been closed a  _long_ time. You don't get to tell me what to do. You have  _no rights_  in that department. I'm grown. I'm a mother. I'm  _your boss_ , and  _neither_ of you are officially in charge of this town, so, unless you've got something better to tell me than, 'because we're your parents', you can get the hell out of this house and leave me, Henry,  _and_ Regina alone until I'm ready to deal with you two again."

By the time she stopped her ranting, she was breathing heavily, and her eyes were wild with her rage. "Get out."

The couple looked at each other. They had a silent conversation with their eyes. Though they were both visibly hurt and upset, they chose not to say another word before leaving, and Emma silently followed them to the front door, closing and locking it behind them.

She quickly stalked up the stairs and to Regina's bedroom. Not bothering with knocking, she stormed in and glanced around until she found the brunette sitting up in her bed with a book in her hands. "That," the sheriff hissed as she pointed down toward the study, "was entirely uncalled for."

Regina glanced up from her book, placed a bookmark between the pages, and gently closed it before placing it on her nightstand. "It was, and I apologize for losing my temper."

It wasn't the response Emma had been expecting, and the shock of the answer threw her off kilter. She stood in a daze of anger and confusion for a brief time as she tried to get her bearings again. Shaking her head and blinking to reorient herself, she finally managed to process the fact Regina had apologized. "I, yeah," she quietly responded. "You want talk about what that was all about?"

"No," came the emotionless response, "but I will  _after_ you take a shower. You smell like day old coffee." Regina wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I'd rather my bed linens not smell like the sheriff's station, and, as I'm not willing to move from my comfortable spot and you seem curious enough to want to hear my story, you'll have to sit in here with me if you want me to 'talk about it." She reached over to pick her book up again. "You know where the guest bath is, Ms. Swan."

"God, you're frustrating," Emma grunted as she turned around to go take a shower.

"As are you," Regina muttered into the pages of her book.


	14. Chapter 14

Emma stood in the doorway of the master bedroom and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. Regina was still reclined on the same side of the bed she had been when Emma went to shower, she was still reading her book, and she was completely ignoring the blonde.

Finally deciding the older woman wasn't going to ever look up and acknowledge her, she walked over to the chair positioned not far from Regina's side of the bed and plopped down, giving a grunt as her body made contact with the surprisingly hard chair cushions.

"If you break my furniture, Ms. Swan, you will be paying to replace it," Regina stated from behind her book. "I promise you that you can't afford it."

Emma rolled her eyes and shifted to throw her legs over one arm while leaning against the other so she was comfortably looking at the former mayor. "Probably not. My boss keeps refusing to give me a raise."

"You should speak with your mother about that. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to increase your budget," Regina replied without missing a beat.

" _She_ is not my boss," the sheriff's mouth twitched with the effort to not start ranting about her parents. "Anyway, what are you reading?"

" _Things Fall Apart_  by Chinua Achebe." Regina continued to keep her eyes on the pages of her book. "It's about a tribal leader who falls from grace in the eyes of his people, and then his village is culturally destroyed when the Europeans move in and begin to dictate to the local inhabitants how things ought to be as opposed to how the natives have always lived their lives."

Emma blinked. "Sounds depressing."

Regina frowned. "It's realistic in how it handles the subject of what is and is not," she replaced her bookmark and finally looked up, "considered acceptable behavior in one's society, and what  _are_ you wearing?"

"What?" The younger woman glanced down at her outfit. Her multicolored fuzzy socks clashed a little with her red flannel pajama bottoms, which looked odd with the ribbed white tank top she was wearing. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Where to begin?" The brunette gave a sigh that said she thought Emma was a hopeless case. "At least you're wearing pants this time as opposed to the red thong you had on the first time I saw you in your sleep attire."

"Would you rather I had on  _nothing_  but my tank?" Emma rolled her eyes again. "Besides, I didn't have any changes of clothes, and I didn't even know I was going to stay until I decided I was, and by then it was too late to go back home and pack." She waved a hand in the air. "Whatever. It's all water, but, if you must know, I don't prefer to sleep like this." She motioned down her body.

Regina gave her an annoyed look. "I suppose you think it will shock me when you tell me you sleep in the nude?"

Emma's eyes widened. "What? No! I mean, I would never… that's just not…  _Why_ do you do that? No, I  _do not_ prefer to sleep in the nude. I prefer to sleep in shorts, but the weather up here is too cold for that most of the time. I feel like I'm  _always_ cold. God!" She let out a frustrated grunt.

"I suppose the weather doesn't bother me. In the Enchanted forest, we had no central air or heat, and my castle was always a bit drafty." Regina gave a small shrug. "At least here there is warmth or cooling when you need it."

"Yeah, if you can afford it and you're not living in your car or on the street," the blonde shot back. "It's not all great here either."

"No, I suppose not," Regina answered quietly. Tilting her head to the side, she considered the other woman for a moment, and it looked as if she was going to ask a question but decided against it at the last moment. Instead, she reached over and opened the drawer in her nightstand to pull out what looked like Henry's book. "Before you ask, no, this isn't Henry's. I made a copy of it once I realized I needed to know what he knew and that he'd hold it against me if I continued to keep custody of his book."

She plopped the book down in her lap and opened it to the story about Prince Charming and Snow White. Running a finger along the page that began with "Once upon a time," she let the turmoil of emotions she felt register on her face for a very brief moment. "Your mother was a beautiful child," she began, her voice soft with thought and emotion.

"Lovely dark locks that bounced with natural curl, bright eyes, a contagious smile, a soft demeanor that spoke of her good heart, and," she glanced up, "skin as white as snow." She chuckled at the eye roll that received. "She was intelligent but naïve, and she was terrible at riding horses." Regina closed the book and handed it over to Emma, who took it without a word. "There was a time, Ms. Swan, when I genuinely loved your mother. I was a teenager, and she was a young girl. I saved her life after an incident involving a horse."

Regina's eyes grew glassy as she remembered. "We became close, and I trusted her, but my trust was misplaced."

"She told Cora about Daniel?" Emma shifted, placing the book down on the ground.

"Yes, and you know what happened from there." The brunette looked down at her hands where they rested in her lap. "I think I might have been able to deal with the death of Daniel if not for the fact that I was, days later, forced to agree to marry Snow's father, a man old enough to be  _my_  father and who saw me as a prize and a babysitter for his young daughter." She literally shuddered in her bed. "There is nothing, no training one can have, to prepare you for a wedding night in which you had no desire to participate."

"Wait a minute," the young woman cut in. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"It was a different world and a different time, Ms. Swan. Royalty rarely married for love. They married for financial security and unity of kingdoms. I can think of very few queens who married their kings because they wanted to. They did so because it was their obligation to do so and then to have their king's heirs." Regina's eyes sharpened. "If you ever believed that being a royal was something to be wished for, let me assure you that it is far worse in some regards than being a peasant."

Emma shook her head. "That's messed up."

"Yes," came the flat response. "Your grandfather wanted a male heir, and he did everything he could, as often as he could, in order to ensure he received one." Another shudder ran through Regina, briefly slouching her posture. "He really didn't care whether I wanted to participate or not in the matter."

"How long?" Emma's voice was rough with her rising emotions at this new knowledge. "How long did he do that to you?"

"A while," she shrugged. "A few years, until I talked the man you know as Sydney into killing him for me."

"You didn't have him killed to gain the kingdom?" Though the question was harsh, Emma's curiosity was honest. It was clear she wasn't being malicious. She wanted to understand.

"That, too." Regina gave a bark of a laugh. "It was an added bonus to get rid of a man who was making my life a living hell."

The sheriff narrowed her eyes. "Mary Margaret said the man who killed her father disappeared. What happened to him?"

"If you're insinuating I killed him, you'd be wrong. I tried to talk him into leaving my kingdom, but he was a love sick fool. He made a magical wish to be with me always." Again, Regina gave that same bitter laugh.

"And?" Emma tilted her head and waited.

Regina shrugged. "And he got his wish." She made a vague gesture with her hand as she said in a haughty, overly dramatic voice, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

"You're joking? Are you for real? I mean, seriously?" The young woman sat up in her chair and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. " _Sydney_  was the magic mirror?"

"Yes, and I hate that Disney portrayed me as being so shallow as to care how pretty Snow White is." The brunette rolled her eyes. "Please. I  _always_ had more suitors, and it wasn't simply because I was the Evil Queen."

"Please don't get us into a conversation about how pretty my  _mother_  may or may not be. I really don't want to think about my parents in a sexual way." Emma shuddered.

"Really, Ms. Swan." Regina rolled her eyes. "How do you think you arrived here? Magical fairy?"

"Magical tree, actually," the sheriff shot back with a grin. She leaned down to pick the book up again and flipped through the pages until she found the one about her parents. "You know," she said quietly as her eyes scanned the story. "I would have killed the bastard, too."

Regina raised an eye brow. "There it is again."

"What?" Emma looked up, her eyes wide in question.

"That part of you that surprises me. Charmings don't kill for revenge, Sheriff. They kill to protect others, but not for the sake of killing when the end is to only make their own lives better." The older woman's eyes were full of a candid curiosity regarding the woman before her. "If your parents, or the town, heard you say such things, they'd accuse you of having been corrupted by me in some way."

"Everyone has good and evil inside of them, Regina." Emma stood, walking over to place the book back in the hands of the other woman. "If someone claims to be mostly good, or mostly evil, they're only fooling themselves, and any bastard who would, on a regular basis, rape a woman young enough to be his daughter in the name of trying to get a son doesn't deserve sympathy in my opinion. I don't care  _how_ he might be related to me. The same goes for a woman. Rape is rape, and it's wrong. What?" She narrowed her eyes at the look that passed by on Regina's face. It was a look of guilt, which was odd to see on the other woman. "What don't I know?"

"A great deal," Regina answered as her face shut down again. "I'm not a good person, Ms. Swan. I've done terrible things. I've killed people simply to do so, and I've," she hesitated. "Sometimes, when you're hyper focused on things that only make you happy, you tend to turn into the people you most hate."

Emma backed up until she could sit back down in the chair. " _You_ raped someone?"

Regina looked away, unable to make eye contact with the other woman. "In the  _other_  world, yes, I suppose you could consider it rape. In  _this_ world, he came to me willingly and sometimes when I didn't even know he was planning be here. In the other world, sex was a tool for power," her voice was low and cracked from time to time. "Kings used sex as a way to overpower and subjugate willful women." She sighed heavily. "And so did I with willful men."

"You've got to be kidding me." The blonde shook her head in disbelief. "Why would you do that after knowing what's that like?  _How_  could you do that, and to  _who?!_ "

"I did it because I knew precisely what it was like," the brunette's voice began to hold an edge, and her eyes finally met the younger woman's. "I knew how it pulled away the other person's sense of power. I knew what it meant to be humiliated and not be able to do a thing about it. I knew how effective it was as a tool to break someone. I  _learned_ , and then I used what I had learned to create my powerbase and secure my kingdom. By the time I had reached the point of using sex as a tool to dominate and destroy, I didn't care about anyone else's feelings." She scoffed. "I cared about three things – killing Snow White, destroying everyone's happy endings, and gaining more powerful magic. I would do anything to reach those ends."

Emma ran her hands through her hair as she processed. "And what about now?"

"Now?" Regina's voice held a mocking tone. "Now I have nothing, I'm no one, and," she glanced around the room, "I'm trying to  _not_ increase the power of my magic, so, no Ms. Swan, now I would not have sex with someone against their will. In fact, I stopped doing that the day the curse was enacted."

Emma gave a grave nod of her head. "You never told me who."

Regina shook hers in turn, the gesture saying the blonde was still being foolishly naïve. "There were many, some you know and some you don't. Does it really matter?"

"It does to me." Emma leaned back, crossing her arms.

"Fine." The brunette's eyes gave off a look of defiance. "Graham was one. He was the huntsman I sent to slay Snow White and return with her heart as proof of the deed. When he came back empty handed and refusing to kill her,  _I_ took  _his_ heart and then had my guards escort him to my bedchambers."

"God, Regina. I just don't know what to think about this." Emma ran a hand over her face. "Graham was basically your sex slave?"

"To put it crudely."

"So why would he come willingly to you after the curse? Wouldn't he want to stay as far away from you as possible?" The young woman stood and paced the room, unable to look at the other woman. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I honestly don't know." Regina watched her pace. "I do know he stopped coming when you arrived."

"You mean just before he," the blonde stopped pacing and turned to look at the woman in the bed. "You took his heart." It was a statement of fact.

"Yes." Regina didn't blink; she waited.

"That means you still had his heart after the curse happened." Again, it was another statement of fact.

The reply was just as blandly returned as the first. "Yes."

"You killed him." Emma pointed down at the other woman. "You crushed his heart when he decided to stop seeing you and be with me."

Regina closed her eyes and stilled her breathing, which had gone up just a slight notch as she waited for Emma to draw her conclusions. "Is that what Henry told you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't believe him at the time. Regina, did you kill Graham out of spite?"

"Do you really want to know that answer, Sheriff?"

"I… no." Emma shook her head. "No, I don't want to know it, but I do anyway. I'll never be able to prove it. There's no law on the books that would apply to this situation. Christ, Regina, how many people have died because you were having a crappy day?"

"Hundreds," the brunette gave a nonchalant shrug. "Thousands if you count the war."

The sheriff was livid. "How can you be so indifferent? All those innocent lives gone just because you weren't happy? How can you just sit there and…"

"Ah, there it is." The volume of Regina's voice went up to counter Emma's, but her tone remained unconcerned. "There is that Charming righteousness. For a moment there I was beginning to wonder where that might be."

Emma stopped talking and glared at the other woman. "How many people live in your head?"

"What?" The older woman looked confused. "Are you accusing me of multiple personality disorder?"

"Maybe," the blonde replied as she tried to calm herself down. "There's nothing I can do about all the people you've killed, but, going forward, if you kill another person, I'll take care of you myself. No more, Regina, I mean it."

The other woman tilted her head in question. "Just like that? You're going to make an idle threat and then do nothing else after knowing all the supposed atrocities I've committed?"

"They're not supposed. What you've done  _is_ atrocious, but trying to punish you for it now is a like trying to decide how to punish Pol Pot. I mean, sure, we could put you under house arrest, but does that really justify the amount of crimes you've actually committed? How do you punish someone who has done something on the level of mass genocide?" Emma's face was contorted with conflicting emotions.

Regina offered, "You could kill me."

"Yeah, but that wouldn't really accomplish anything either, now would it? God, Regina, how can you be this messed up? I don't even know what to do with this information. You turned into this woman," she gestured at the brunette, "because your mother killed your first love?"

"My  _true_ love," Regina spat back.

"How do you know? He was the first person you loved, but that doesn't make him your  _true_ love. It makes him someone you loved who loved you back, but it's not the same thing." The younger woman stood up and walked to the bedroom door. "You spent 28 years stuck in this town with people that I would consider idiots on the best of my days when I was working in the real world. That kind of house arrest will have to do because I honestly don't know that there's a punishment out there to fit the crimes you're responsible for committing or having committed." She opened the door. "Good night, Regina."

As the door silently closed, Regina wiped at her eyes, trying to keep the tears from spilling over as she swallowed down the bile that had come up as she had confessed her crimes. Her mind swam with what had just happened and with her past as a whole. Guilt ate at her, and she wanted nothing more than to turn it into hate to fuel her, as a way to justify destroying those who would stand in her way. The magic within her churned, and her eyes fell to her spell book that sat innocently on a shelf not far from away. She took in a deep breath and crawled out of bed.

Stopping in front of the shelf, her eyes fell to the book. Her hand lingered over it for long minutes before she reluctantly pulled back and headed to her bathroom to take a long, hot bath. She was too tightly wound; there would be no sleep for her, but, then again, there rarely was.


	15. Chapter 15

"What is that noise?" Emma stumbled into the kitchen wearing her night clothes. Her hair was pulled haphazardly back in a messy ponytail, and her eyes refused to focus. "It's 5:30 in the morning, Regina. Why are you awake?"

"That noise is the coffee grinder, Ms. Swan, and I'm awake this early because Henry will be up earlier than normal so he can finish his homework." The brunette poured the freshly ground coffee into her French press and poured the hot water from her kettle over it.

"Oh, right, his homework," Emma grunted and took a seat at the island as the aroma of coffee wafted through the room. "I can't believe you're already dressed. Do you ever not look like you just came out of a fashion magazine?"

Regina glanced over to the other woman and gave a little sneer of disdain. "Do you ever look like you didn't just roll out of bed and put on whatever was least dirty from the floor?"

"No, not usually," the sheriff countered with a small grin as she began to wake up. She ran her hand over her face and scratched at her head. "Smells good, though. I could use some coffee this morning."

"Difficulty sleeping, dear?" From behind the paper she was reading as she waited for the coffee to brew, the former mayor sounded uninterested in the answer.

Emma rolled her eyes. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I'm willing to bet you didn't either. Speaking of, I've got a question for you, Regina."

The paper lowered. "I may have an answer."

"How many people died in the name of supporting my parents' good deeds?" The young woman looked road wary and beaten down as she asked her questions. "I mean, if hundreds, maybe thousands, died in a war, that means there were at least two sides fighting and at least two sides being killed off, right?"

" _This_ is what you think about as you try to drift off to sleep? No  _wonder_  you didn't sleep well last night." Though she sounded irritated with the question, Regina stepped toward the island and placed her paper down so she could give her attention to the other woman. "I honestly don't know how many people died in your parents' army, but I highly doubt any person died at your parents' hand simply because they felt like killing someone that day for the purposes of entertainment. Is that what you want to know? Do you need to be told that your family's orders which sent good men to their death were more altruistic than my orders to send my men to  _their_ death?"

"No," Emma shook her head slowly from side to side. "I've already told you what I want. I want to know the truth. Look, there are three sides to every story. There's your side, their side, and what actually happened. I learned a long time ago that, if I wanted to really find something out, I needed to know the whole story - all three sides, so I'm asking you about yours."

"You mean you're not going to leave here today with Henry and declare me a 'lost cause?" Regina was genuinely surprised, and, for once, it showed on her face. "There may be hope for you yet, Sheriff."

Emma shrugged. "We all have a past, Regina. What matters is what we do with the present and the future. Besides, how does it help you cope with your addiction if I walk away because of something your addiction ultimately caused?"

Regina stared at the other woman, eyes guarded and posture rigid. Finally, she gave a nondescript hum before turning to open the fridge to begin pulling out ingredients for omelets. "I hope you like mushrooms in your omelets, Ms. Swan."

"As much as I would love to say that the Evil Queen cooked something for me that didn't end in anyone being poisoned or cursed," Emma joked as she stood up, giving her best grin, "I have to be somewhere this morning. Now that I'm up, I might as well go take a shower and get going on it. Can you take Henry to school?"

"Yes, but," the older woman hesitated. It was clear she was uncertain about something. Finally stopping her preparations for breakfast, she turned to fully look at the blonde. "Will you wake Henry before you take a shower?"

"Yeah, I'll tell him that it was my idea for you to take him to school," the young woman answered as she headed back upstairs.

Regina huffed but the look of relief on her face belayed any underlying irritation that the sheriff knew her motives for the request.

* * *

"Hi, Mom, what's for breakfast?"

"Henry," Regina breathed his name out as if it were a quiet prayer of thanks. "I thought omelets were in order," she answered with a smile on her face. "What would you like to drink?"

His little mouth twisted in thought for a moment. "Apple juice?"

Despite herself, the surprise showed on her face, but she strolled to the fridge and poured the requested drink before placing it in front of her son. "I've finished the corrections…"

"I know it's bad, but there's been a lot going on, and it's kind of hard to focus on school stuff with all this other stuff going on." He winced, waiting for her to counter with everything he should be doing as opposed to everything he was actually doing.

"I wouldn't say it was bad," she answered quietly as she placed an omelet down for each of them. "Given all the distractions recently, I'd say you're doing quite well."

"Really?" His eyes lit up at the praise, and the look broke Regina's heart just a bit more as she realized the reason he looked so excited was because she had so rarely given him praise in the past, only criticism.

"Yes, really, and I can tell you're getting better dealing with your subject matter. You just need a bit more practice with your grammar and subject/verb agreement." She sipped her coffee. "You know I've always been proud of how well you do in school, Henry."

He looked down at his plate and pushed the eggs around. "I didn't know that," he mumbled. "I thought you hated it when I didn't get A's."

"Only because I know how smart you are, and I know that you're more than capable of making A's." Her voice was gentle as she answered. There was no anger or irritation, only a desire to help him understand her point of view and to, maybe, understand his. "I know I can be pushy, but it's only because I want you to do well and be the best you can, but," she bent down so they made eye contact, "don't ever think I'm not proud of you. I am. You're my _son_. I'll  _always_ be proud of you."

They shared an awkward silence as Regina sipped her coffee and Henry tried to eat his breakfast. Once he finished and had placed his plate in the dishwasher, he looked at her with a confused and emotional face. "I'm going to go get my paper from your study so I can fix it before school." He turned to leave but stopped at the exit. "Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, Henry?"

"I'm proud of you, too," he said quietly before he quickly scampered away.

She watched him dash away as she let the tears fall, unable to hold them back.


	16. Chapter 16

"Emma?" Granny Lucas took her glasses off, cleaned them, and put them back on. "You do realize its 6:15 in the morning, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know what time it is," the sheriff grumbled as she strolled over to the café's bar to sit down. "Coffee please."

"Okay," the older woman replied in a careful tone as she poured a cup and set it down. "Did something happen this morning? Not that I don't like seeing your bright, shining face around here, but this is early for you. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you up this early."

"I honestly can't remember the last time I saw the sunrise because I  _woke up_  early enough to see," Emma replied before taking a long draw from her mug of coffee.

Granny waited, cleaning as she did so. The café wasn't yet bright with morning light, and the only people in the place were the two of them. Though the establishment technically opened at 6 AM each day, the Lucas family normally didn't see a single customer until at least 6:45. Most of the time, it was 7. The young woman drank half the cup before she finally started speaking again.

"If I ask you something about my family's history, could I trust you to keep it confidential?" Emma's voice held a quiet intensity that made the other woman feel uncomfortable.

Looking down her nose to see Emma through her glasses, she answered, "Well, I suppose it depends on what it is you're asking me. If I think you're about to do something that's going to get you in trouble, I don't make any promises about keeping anything a secret."

"Fair enough, I guess." The blonde motioned to ask for more coffee and waited to speak again until after she'd taken a drink from the new pour. "I guess I'll just have to chance it." She sighed. "I want to ask you about something that happened when everyone was still in the Enchanted Forest." She looked up to make eye contact. "It's about my parents, specifically."

"What about them?" The question was stilted.

"When the war between the Evil Queen and Prince Charming and Snow White broke out, I assume you were on the counsel that my parents consulted when they were trying to figure out the best way to defeat Regina, right?" Emma rolled her eyes and winced. It was one of the more bizarre sentences she'd ever muttered.

"Of course I was. So were Jiminy, Geppetto, the Blue Fairy, the man you know as Leroy, and few others as needed. Why?" The older woman narrowed her eyes. "What, exactly, do you want to know?"

"How many people did you send off to die in order to take Regina down?" The question was asked in a soft tone, but Emma's eyes held a torrent of emotions.

Granny's mouth pulled down into a deep frown as her eyes looked away and into the past. "Hundreds, maybe thousands. It's hard to know exact numbers. It was a difficult war, and many good people lost their lives at the hands of the Evil Queen's army."

"Why?" Emma sipped at her coffee. "Why did you go to war? Why did you decide you were out of options?"

"Because there comes a time when the only thing left is to fight." Granny Lucas looked down at the young woman with a mix of irritation and impatience. "You weren't there, and it would be hard for you to understand because you don't know…"

"Then  _tell_ me." The blonde sat up a bit straighter. "I want to know, and I'd like to learn from someone who isn't related to me. I'm not saying I don't trust what my parents have to say, but I'd like to know the story from a different side than theirs."

The older woman narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"It's time I learned the whole story, and the only way to do that is to hear everyone's side. I'm tired of being told that I don't understand because I don't know. This world is my reality now, and it's time that I learned about it." The sheriff finished off her coffee. "I want to know how many people went off to die in a war because," she closed her mouth, and her jaw tensed for a split second. "I want to understand when it's justified for people who are considered on the side of good to decide to kill in the name of justice. I want to understand what's going on here."

"What's got you thinking about this? That's all in the past now." Granny tossed her towel under the bar. "Why are you asking these types of questions? You know your parents wouldn't send people to die unless it was absolutely necessary, and it was necessary in order to take down Regina. You don't understand the destruction she caused. She should have been executed for her crimes."

"But she wasn't," Emma quipped in an almost sarcastic voice. "Why?"

"Because Snow White demanded we didn't. The Prince called for Regina's execution. On the day it was to happen, the Evil Queen was put in front of the archers. Her last words were along the lines of 'I wish I'd managed to kill Snow White and make all of your lives more miserable', and then the call was made to fire. But Snow White called a stop to it just before the arrows pierced Regina's chest. The Blue Fairy stopped the arrows in midair just inches from their target." Granny shook her head. "Shame if you ask me. Perfectly good waste of a chance."

Emma ignored the comment. "Okay, but  _why_ did Snow spare the Evil Queen?"

Granny shook her head. "She didn't want to be like Regina. What are you trying to figure out here?"

"Evil kills for the sake of evil, and good kills for the sake of stopping evil, but how come," the sheriff pushed her empty mug away from her, "no one ever points out that killing, regardless of the reason behind it, or sending people into a situation where you know they're going to die, is an evil act in and of itself? Why doesn't anyone ever say that the act itself of killing is wrong?"

"Someone did." Granny looked up as the door rattled to welcome Leroy and his gang in for their morning breakfast.

Emma glanced backwards and made a face at the intruders. "Who?"

"Your mother when she spared Regina's life. Now I think you need to go talk to her if you want to know anything else. The diner's about to get busy."

The young woman watched as Granny stepped over to start taking orders. It was a normal scene a person could see at any diner at this time of day across any point in the country. The only problem was how abnormal it was. Emma mused to herself that nowhere in any world could anyone find Granny from  _The Little Red Ridinghood_ serving breakfast to the 7 dwarves that used to help out Snow White. She rolled her eyes. Snow White, she thought to herself with a bit of disdain, who was her mother and not half as innocent as Disney wanted people to believe.

With a heavy sigh, she slid from the stool and tossed a few dollars on the counter to pay for her coffee. She didn't bother to wave goodbye as she walked out. Her mind was too preoccupied with her next move.


	17. Chapter 17

Regina settled in her backyard to pull weeds from her flowerbeds, stopping occasionally to prune a dead stem or a wayward leaf. She had been working on her yard since returning from dropping Henry at school that morning, and, once she began, she had decided to make a day of it.

What had started out as a simple chore to fill her time had turned into a semi meditation. She allowed the soundtrack that was quietly playing in the background from the speakers strategically installed on her back porch to fill her thoughts with varying images of both of her lives interlaced with visuals the songs brought from the story in which the music came. In time, her playlist had found its way to the soundtrack of  _Les Miserables,_ and it quietly seeped through the peacefulness of her bubble. It was sad, often heart-wrenching, and completely painful.

She found she cried, and she found she didn't care. She cried often now, and, though the tears were normally from pain, this time they were simply cathartic, so she let them fall as she systematically went through the motions of tending to her flowers and ornate bushes that surrounded her house and fence line.

Time passed, but time was irrelevant to her. In the former mayor's world, time didn't matter because she had no one to keep a schedule for and no reason to keep a schedule of her own, so she tended to her yard as one would tend to something as if it were the only thing that mattered in the world.

So hyper-focused was she that she didn't hear the approaching footsteps until they were too close to bother to care about. Instead of acknowledging her unwanted guest, she focused on tending to the flowers before her.

* * *

"Don't you thinking listening to ' _One Day More'_  is a little melodramatic, even for you?" Mary Margaret's voice cut through Regina's solitude.

"I think that what I choose to listen to is of no concern to you, Ms. Blanchard, and I would appreciate it if you'd leave my property immediately." The older woman kept her eyes on her work.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what you're up to." The smaller woman crossed her arms and looked down at the woman still on the ground. "No one else is here. It's just you and me, and I think it's time you told me the truth instead of trying to win Emma's sympathies by playing her emotions."

Regina's jaw flexed and her muscles tightened. Carefully, she turned to look up at the woman attempting to tower above her. "If you're here to try to force me to admit to something of which I have no intention or desire to do, then you are wasting your time. The sheriff is here of her own accord. I have nothing to do with it. In fact," she said as she stood up and dusted the dirt from her clothes, "I understand it was  _your_  actions, not mine, that have Ms. Swan choosing to stay somewhere other than yours and David Nolan's happy little home. So, if there's anyone you want to speak with regarding your sudden decline in the number of people occupying that little box you call an apartment, perhaps you should start by talking to yourself."

With a quirk of her eyebrow and a smirk on her lips, Regina walked past Mary Margaret and toward her tool shed to put her tools up for the evening. It was clearly getting later in the afternoon, and the former mayor had no plans to be grimy and unkempt should the sheriff decide to stay another night. After all, it irritated the young blonde to no end that Regina always looked perfectly put together, and the former queen had no intention of breaking that level of irritation and giving Emma Swan ammunition for later.

"What happens in our home is  _none_ of your business, Regina," Mary Margaret snapped as she followed behind.

"I would say the same thought applies to you as well, Ms. Blanchard." Regina began to carefully clean her tools with the garden hose by the shed. "You are not welcome here. I'll ask you again, nicely. Please leave my property."

"I've already told you that I'm not leaving until you tell me why you're doing this to us, to my family. Haven't you done enough? Haven't you destroyed enough lives? Caused enough devastation?" The younger woman's eyes were wide with her anger, and her hands clenched at her sides. "Why can't you leave me and my family alone?"

"I believe we've already had this discussion, and it didn't turn out well for you, if I recall correctly." With an eerie calm, Regina dried each piece of equipment before placing it in its designated location in the shed. "This time, there is no sheriff or Prince Charming to save you."

The smaller woman stepped up, coming completely into the other woman's personal space. "I'm not afraid of you, Regina, and I  _will_ protect my family."

The older woman's eyes had grown frigid, and her face displayed no emotion. When she finally spoke, after giving the smaller woman a long, cool look, her voice was just as chilly as her demeanor. "Yes," she said with a touch of velvet in the acrid harshness of her voice, "I know you would at least try to, dear, but," she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, "at what cost?"

"Whatever it takes," Mary Margaret answered without hesitation.

They silently stood-off against each other. Neither was willing to back down, but neither was willing to move forward, and the situation suddenly struck Regina with the odd analogy of what was now her life.

She began to chuckle, which turned into a harsh and mirthless laugh. The bitter laughter unsettled the other woman, who finally took a much needed step back, face full of confusion.

"Go home, Ms. Blanchard," Regina said though her chuckles of self pity. "I am doing nothing more than what I've told you, which is to try to be a better person for Henry. Luckily for you, that means I won't risk doing anything to harm what little respect my son has for me. Go back to your true love and your happy home, and, when your daughter has calmed down, I'm sure she'll no doubt leave me and return to you with Henry in tow."

"Are you trying to throw me off guard?" The younger woman's eyes narrowed. "It's not that easy."

"No," Regina finally calmed down, wiping at her face with one dirty hand and managing to leave smudges of dirt across it, "I'm well aware of how difficult it is to keep you from your goals. However,  _my_ goals have nothing to do with you or yours. At least, they no longer are so intertwined." She closed the shed and locked it, pocketing the key.

Mary Margaret stepped into Regina's path to the back door. "Then let Emma and Henry come home."

"I am not forcing them to stay here," the older woman said with a roll of her eyes. "Whatever issues you have with your daughter are none of my concern. I suggest you take them up with her and leave me out of it."

"You  _are_ my problems with my daughter," the other woman lashed out, anger filling her words. "You're the reason we're in this mess, you're the reason Emma and I are fighting right now, and you're the reason why I can't get to my daughter.  _You're_ the problem here, Regina. You've been the problem for almost three decades. I should have," Mary Margaret stopped herself. She was clearly shocked by what was about to come from her mouth, and she placed her hand over it as if to keep the words from accidentally tumbling out.

"You should have what?" Regina lifted an eyebrow in a dare. "What should you have done? Hmm? Let me guess." Her voice was all Evil Queen. "You should have let your little squad of archers kill me when you had the chance? You should never have spared my life? Is that what you meant to say?"

"No," the younger woman shook her head. "No, that's not it. I'm not like you, Regina. I don't kill people. I'm not a murder."

"If that's what you think _,_ " Regina snarled, "then you are truly delusional. You killed or allowed to be killed just as many people as I. Your reasons may have been 'good', but the outcome was all the same. How many of my men did your people put to death because they refused to cooperate with you? How many of my loyal subjects did you  _subject_ to methods that would make this world's agencies cringe in horror because you were trying to coerce them into telling you my secrets?  _How many_?"

Regina stepped closer to her adversary. " _Do not_ lie to me,  _Snow White,_ " she spit the name out. "I know who you are, I know what you've done, and you cannot lie  _to me_. You and I," her voice practically slithered around the other woman, "are  _far_ more alike than we are different, and your threats are of no consequence to me." She tilted her head back to look down her nose at the smaller woman. "Ms. Swan is a free agent. She will do, say, and learn what she pleases. I will not lie to her for you or anyone else, and, if your fear is that your daughter learns the whole truth from all sides, then I suggest you prepare for the worse because I assure you, dear, I will tell her  _everything_ she wants to know. You've given away your hand. You don't  _want_ her to know the whole truth. I will see that she does because  _you_ wish it to not be so."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Regina." Mary Margaret took another step back.

"Don't I?" Smirking, Regina pulled her work gloves off and held them in one hand, letting her free hand drop casually to her side.

"I'm warning you," the pixie haired brunette said in her best menacing voice. "If you hurt them in anyway before Emma comes to her senses and comes back home, I  _will_ make you pay."

"So you say," Regina replied in a suddenly mild tone. "If you'll excuse me, I need to freshen up before Henry gets home." Her smirk turned fiendish as she added, "Have a nice evening, Ms. Blanchard." With a final look that spoke volumes about the information she planned to tell Emma the next time they were alone together, Regina turned and walked into her home, leaving the other woman alone outside.

Mary Margaret let out a frustrated sigh as she ran a hand through her hair and the last melodic strings of the reprise of  _"Do You Hear the People Sing"_  filled the quiet of the backyard.


	18. Chapter 18

Emma opened the library's door and quietly strolled in. She stopped for a long moment to let her eyes adjust to the dark and dusty interior. The air smelled of old books with just a hint of something floral. It reminded her of Belle, and she wondered where the woman was as she wasn't at the front of the building. Sighing, she walked around the tall shelves and short tables until she found Belle seated in a corner, reading a thick novel that clearly weighed her hand down as she tried to keep it held up.

"Hey," the sheriff spoke quietly so as not to startle the other woman.

Belle looked up and smiled. "Emma, what are you doing here?"

"I was wondering if you could help me find something." The blonde blushed and shifted uncomfortably. "I was thinking this library might have something other libraries and the internet don't."

Attention fully caught, Belle marked her page and slowly put her book down to rest in her lap. "What's that?"

"Something written about the Enchanted Forest that tells me more than what's in Henry's book." Emma's face held an unspoken apology, as if she were asking something that she should feel sorry for wanting to know. "I figured there are bits and pieces of the other place all around town, so why not history books in the library, right?" She shrugged.

Belle stood up, placing her book in the seat she had just vacated. "We might have something," she said with thought as she walked past Emma, who followed her. "Is there anything in particular you want to know about?"

"The events leading up to, and the war between, Snow White and the Evil Queen." The sheriff held her breath and waited for the backlash she was sure she was about to receive.

Instead, Belle only nodded as she ran a finger along the spines of books that looked so old they might fall apart if a person breathed too hard on them. She pulled out an ancient book bound in cracked leather and handed it to the blonde. "This one should have what you're looking for." She tilted her head to the side. "Why are suddenly interested?"

Emma looked at the cover. The title was written in a flourished script and faded to the point of being almost illegible.  _A Coin's Two Sides: The History of Our World_ was the title, but the name of the author had long since vanished from the cover. She raised an eyebrow. "I just thought it would be a good idea to find out what happened without, you know, bothering too many people about it."

It was Belle's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I don't think many people in this town would hesitate to tell you anything you'd like to know. I, personally, don't know very much, but I'd happily tell you anything that you'd like to know that I could." She started the walk back to her little reading corner. "Is that really the only reason you're interested?"

Following behind so she could sit at the table near Belle's chair, Emma could only shrug at the question. She considered her options before she finally answered as honestly as she was willing, "I want to understand what really happened and how… how  _everyone_ turned out like they did, and I can't do that if I just take people's word for it." She sat down, placing the book in front of her on the table. "Does that make sense?"

"Yes," Belle's voice was again quiet and thoughtful. "I think Regina deserves a second chance, too."

The comment was random enough that it literally jarred Emma from her chair, and she stood as if she'd been shocked. "What?" Her eyes were wide, and her breath was short. "Why would you say that?"

"Word travels fast." The other woman shrugged. "I heard about the fight you had with Mary Margaret at Granny's, and I read what you put in the paper regarding the topic you want to talk about in tomorrow's town hall meeting." Belle gave her best gentle smile. "I sort of pieced it together."

"So are you going to tell me she's beyond hope?" The sheriff cautiously returned to her seat.

Belle followed, sitting in the chair across from her. "No. I would think I would be the last person to tell you someone is beyond hope. I think there's good in everyone if there's someone there to look for it and help that person bring it to the surface." She reached over the table to place a comforting hand on Emma's arm. "I'm glad you're looking. I think it's important for you to come to your own conclusions about everyone in this town, not just Regina."

"Thanks," the blonde's smile was tired but genuine. "I just think that it's time to end this. How is Regina going to get better if we never give her a chance? I know she's trying. She  _is_. She loves Henry, and she'd do anything for him. And he's such a good kid. He didn't get that way on his own.  _She_ raised him, which means she had something to do with that, and, if someone can raise a kid like Henry, then maybe they're not as bad as we think." She winced a little. "Right? Or am I crazy?"

"Emma," Belle's voice held levity. "I'm in love with Rumpelstiltskin."

The blonde had to chuckle. "I see your point, but I'm not in love with Regina. I just think that we should encourage and help her if it means she'll stop trying to destroy all of us."

Belle shrugged. "There are all kinds of different types of love. Just because you don't love her like I do Rumple doesn't mean you don't care about her in some way."

"Are you kidding me?" Emma snorted. "She  _hates_ me, and the feeling is mutual. I don't want to 'care' about her, Belle. I just want her to stop trying to take out me and my family."

"It's not a bad thing to care about another person, Emma." Tapping her finger on the book sitting on the table between them, Belle gave a mysterious smirk before she said, "Flip through this, and, if you have questions or just need to talk about it, you can find me three rows over."

The sheriff watched her go with a look that screamed she thought the other woman was nuts. Shaking her head and sighing, she turned to the book and carefully opened it to the table of contents.

The pages were yellowed with age, and they felt stiff to Emma as she turned through them. She frowned at how long the book was, but her eyes brightened with curiosity as they landed on a chapter title  _The Rise of Queen Regina_.

Taking in a deep breath, she flipped to the chapter and began to read, noting the time before she started. She had 5 hours before she had to pick Henry up. That should be plenty of time to learn a few things, assuming no one needed her to go out and do her job.

* * *

"This is  _bullshit,_ " Emma snarled as she stalked over to where the other woman had made a new cubbyhole in which to read.

"I see you have questions about the book," Belle said with a smile.

"Questions? No, I don't have questions. I have," the blonde's voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words for her current emotional state. "How could  _anyone_ let a child go through what Cora put her daughter through? Why is that okay? Even when I was in the system, if someone was abusing me, I had a way to get out. How were there not people around to…"

"Emma," voice quiet but strong, Belle held a hand up to stop the rant. "You're forgetting a few things." At the blonde's look that screamed she keep talking, Belle motioned for Emma to take a seat. "First of all, in the world we come from, being a woman automatically puts you at a disadvantage, even  _if_ you're royalty. If you're a person without enough power to protect yourself and your possessions, be that power of influence, money, or magic, then someone would come in and take everything from you."

"So you're saying Cora was doing Regina a favor by teaching her that power is freedom and love is weakness?" Emma shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe  _you're_ telling me that."

"No, of course not. But I am telling you that having power was one of a very few ways a person in Regina's specific situation would have been able to gain some ounce of actual freedom." Belle's face held sadness for the woman they were discussing. "Women were often thought of as property,  _especially_ in the royal families. But, if a female royal had power, they often had the ability to act as if they were a man; they could do as they pleased. It's a difficult situation to be in at the best of times, and I wish I could say that love would conquer all, but that's not always the case, especially as a royal."

"It wasn't the case for Regina. You know," Emma stood and began to pace. "For a place that's supposed to be a Fairytale Land where people get happy endings, Regina's story really sucks. I mean, here's a kid who only wanted to please her mother, but couldn't because her mother was, and is, an insane bitch. But the kid tries anyway and always fails. Then she has a father who has no balls whatsoever and won't so much as stand up for her when she's getting the crap beat out of her by her power hungry and abusive mother.  _Then_  she finally finds love and a way to escape her abusive situation, but the one person who knows about it and she trusts betrays that trust and tells her insane, power hungry mother.  _ **THEN**_ said crazy ass mother  _kills her love in front of her,_ which takes away her only reasonable way to escape her abusive situation,and tells her it's for her own good."

Emma stopped pacing. "How the hell is that a start to a fairytale with a happy ending? That doesn't make sense  _at all_. It's like the start to a disaster, not a happy ending. There's  _no way_ Regina would ever have had a chance for a happy ending because, no matter where you look in any story about the woman, there's not a single person who is both strong enough and who cares enough to support her and help her work through all this hurt that's happened to her."

Belle narrowed her eyes. "Emma…"

"Where was  _Regina's_ fairy godmother to come help her get away from Cora? Where was the Blue Fairy to turn Regina into something that her mother could never hurt? Where was  _anyone at all_ to help her?"

"Emma…"

"In a world  _full_ of magical people who could help her who  _knew_ there was something going on that was hurting her because, clearly, fairies know about these things,  _why didn't anyone help her?_ " The young blonde's eyes flared with her increasing anger. "I'll tell you why. It's because no one thought she was worth saving, and that is just complete and utter  _ **bullshit**_ _._ "

She stopped ranting and tried to catch her breath.

Belle's smile grew and she gave a small shake of her head. "Feel better now?"

"No," Emma spat out. "I feel like punching a wall. I mean, when I was in the foster system, I had people on my side fighting for me. There was always  _someone_. God," She closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten. "No  _wonder_ Regina became a raging bag of frigid, spiteful, vengeful crazy."

"So what are you going to do now?" With careful movements, Belle stood up.

"I don't know," Emma said in a voice still shaking with her indignation of things long past. She glanced at her watch. "Go pick Henry up from school."

"Just remember, she's not asking for your pity."

"I don't pity Regina," Emma said as they walked to the door. "But I understand her, and I think it's time everyone else did, too." When they arrived at the front door, she turned to Belle to look her in the eye. "You really think she's worth saving? She locked you up for 28 years."

"I think everything Regina has ever done has been to protect herself by wrapping herself with a bubble of power. She locked me up to get at Rumple who, though I love him, I know has done some terrible things to Regina in the past. I think you should consider the reasons behind her moves for power, not just their aftereffects." Belle smiled. "Besides, I'm not hurt, and I'm here now. Go pick Henry up, and come back if you need anything else."

The sheriff nodded and strolled back outside into the bright afternoon sun. She squinted and wiped at the tears the bright light was causing. The brilliance of the light verged on being painful, but she tried to ignore it. Grunting, she turned to her car to leave, trying to shake off her anger before she had to see Henry and hoping he wouldn't notice anything was off.


	19. Chapter 19

"Ma!" Henry smiled broadly as he ran over to where Emma stood waiting for him at the end of the front of the schoolyard. "I didn't know you were picking me up today." She gave him a little smile, hoping he wouldn't be able to catch on that anything was out of the ordinary. But, as he neared her, his face dropped. "What's wrong?"

She rolled her eyes. Of course he would notice. He was the most perceptive boy she'd ever seen. "Nothing, kid. I just had a busy day."

"Did something happen?" His inquisitive eyes looked up at her with concern. "Did something happen with the town? Did some one get hurt." He frowned deeply. "Did Mom do something?"

She winced a little, her heart suddenly very heavy at the fact that now, every time he found out something was amiss with the town, that last question was one he always asked. "No, nothing like that. I promise I was just busy. I was doing a little research on the family."

"Really?" His eyes lit up as they walked to the car. "Did you find anything interesting out? Are we related to other fairytale characters? Is the Little Mermaid my cousin?"

She chuckled. "Not that kind of research, and I don't think I want to know if we're related to mermaids. I don't even like to swim." She opened the car door for him, and he climbed in.

He waited patiently for her to get in and start the car before he tilted his head to the side and asked again, "So, what did you find out about?"

She gave another shrug. "Boring stuff. Hey, what do you think about us picking up a pizza and taking it back to Regina's?"

"I think she doesn't like pizza," he said with a frown. "She says it's bad for you."

Emma scrunched her face up. "She's no fun. Hold on a second." She pulled over and parked the car before taking out her cell. After a few seconds, she began to speak to the person on the other end of the line while Henry watched her. "Hey, before you hang up or tell me no… or both just hear me out, okay? What? No! Why do you always have to turn it into something like that? No, listen, I was thinking that I could bring dinner tonight. What do you mean you don't trust me?" Emma ignored Henry's chuckle. "Oh, come on! It's  _one_ night of something… What? Yeah, how did you know?  _Really?_ No, I'm just surprised, that's all. From where? Yeah, no, I'll go get it, and Henry and I'll be there in a little bit. Yeah, I'll tell him. Bye."

With a roll of her eyes and a frustrated grunt, she chunked her phone down into the cup holder of her car. "So Regina says you have to finish all your homework tonight before bed if we're going to eat pizza for dinner."

He frowned but his eyes sparkled with excitement. "Okay."

They were quiet a for a moment, before Emma asked in a confused voice. "Hey, kid, did you know your mom likes bacon on her pizza?"

" _Seriously?_ " was the only response she received.

* * *

"We're here, and we come back victoriously bearing pizza," Emma stepped inside the mansion behind Henry, closing the front with her foot as her eyes caught and held Regina's. The blonde smirked. "One pizza, half pepperoni and half hamburger and bacon."

"I hardly think you can justify saying you're 'victorious' simply because you've brought in pizza," Regina said as she strolled over to take the pizza box from the other woman. "However, I'm pleasantly surprised to see you at least picked up the right order. Why don't you and Henry wash up for dinner while I get the plates ready?"

"Plates?" Emma hurriedly followed the brunette into the kitchen with Henry at her heels. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no." She blocked the path to the cabinet containing the plates. "You  _do not_ eat pizza on plates."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "And how do you propose we eat pizza, Ms. Swan? Off the floor?"

The younger woman gave it mock thought as she began to answer sarcastically, "Well, maybe. I've been known to eat it off floor after a really long night of," she glanced around to see Henry intently listening, and she suddenly stopped talking. "Never mind. My point is that you eat pizza with your hands and possibly a paper towel. Part of the fun of eating pizza is getting a little messy."

Regina rolled her eyes and looked from the sheriff to her son, who were both giving her the same pained and pleading expression. "Fine, but if you make a mess anywhere in my house, Ms. Swan, you will be cleaning it up. The same goes for you, Henry."

"Okay," they responded at the same time.

While Regina handed the pizza out on paper towels, Henry climbed onto a stool at the island and settled down. "Hey, Mom?" He spoke around a bite of pizza. "What's that music playing?"

In her haste to get cleaned up before anyone else came to her home, Regina had forgotten about the music playing from the speakers strategically placed throughout the house. She looked up as if she could physically see the music and, after a few seconds, she answered as casually as she was able, "That is  _"Defying Gravity"_  from the musical  _Wicked_ , and don't eat with your mouthful, Henry."

He ducked his head and swallowed quickly. "Sorry. Is that the story about the Wicked Witch of the West?"

"She wasn't really wicked," Regina snapped back before she could stop herself. She quickly glanced up to the sheriff was giving her an amused expression. Clearing her throat, the older woman explained in a more gentle voice, "She allowed everyone around her to think she was wicked because it was what was best for the greatest number of people; it was easiest. It's all a little complicated, but, to answer your question, yes. It's the story about Elphaba Thropp."

Emma snorted, unable to hold her chuckle at bay. "Of course  _you_ would have the soundtrack to  _Wicked_."

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't patronize me, Ms. Swan." Regina began to clean up from their dinner. "I've had enough confrontations from your family in my home for one day."

Suddenly serious, the blonde narrowed her eyes. "What happened?"

"I had a visit from your mother while you were at work and Henry at school," the other woman answered as she finished picking up. "Henry, don't you think it's time to go do your homework?"

The young boy's head snap around to look at his mother as he realized he was being sent away to keep him out of the loop. He began to protest, but Emma cut in with her best authoritative voice, "You better get on it, kid. I know you have a lot of homework to do tonight."

Realizing he was out manned, he hung his head and shuffled out of the kitchen and to his bedroom to do his work and then go to bed.

Once the kitchen was cleaned and they were alone, Regina calmly pulled two wine glasses out and a bottle of white from the wine chiller under the counter top. She carefully poured both glasses, replaced the bottle, and turned with a glass in each hand. She extended one, offering it to the Sheriff. "Trust me, you're going to want this."

Emma cautiously reached out and took the offered wine. "That bad?"

"Let's just your mother is very lucky that I'm refraining from both the use of magic and my impulse to kill her every time I see her," Regina answered before she turned and strolled toward her study.

The blonde watched her go before taking a long drink from the glass. She steeled herself and walked into the study to find Regina reclining on the sofa. Emma took a chair across from the brunette, and, settling in, she took a deep breath. With a steadier voice than she felt, she said, "Tell me everything."

"Oh," the brunette replied, her voice practically purring, "I intend to."


	20. Chapter 20

The house was quiet, and the purr in Regina's voice set Emma's teeth on edge. She recognized that sound. She'd heard it several times in the recent past just before Regina had made a move to make her life even more difficult. Emma suddenly felt as though she'd walked right into the lion's den, and she needed to get out  _right then_.

Clearing her throat, she swiftly rose, setting the glass down atop a coaster on the coffee table. "Before you say anything, I need to get something to show you." She licked her suddenly dry lips as her eyes darted nervously around the room. "I picked it up at the library today."

At the skeptical look from Regina, the blonde rolled her eyes. "What? You  _know_ I read. God," She rolled her eyes and walked quickly to the exit. "Give me a few. I'll be right back."

Regina slowly sipped her wine as she waited, wondering what could be so important that Emma would rush out of the room to retrieve it before the evening had even begun. Her questions were answered when she saw the book in the sheriff's hand.

"Where did you get  _that_?" The brunette said, voice suddenly tight. Despite her relaxed position, her body vibrated with tension.

"Belle found it for me." Emma kept hold of the book and retook her place across from Regina. "It was sitting a shelf in the library with a bunch of other old, dusty, rundown looking books."

Regina's voice was flat. "How much did you read?"

"I started with  _The Rise of Queen Regina_ and ended somewhere around  _Prince James and Snow White's Climb to Power_. It's an eye catching read." The young woman carefully opened the book to a page she had marked earlier. Clearing her throat, she read a passage. "Though it's no longer a commonly known fact, Princess Regina was considered by many to be a bright, vibrant, intelligent, and gentle young woman with a giving heart and a kind countenance. What is even more uncommon knowledge is how often the young princess found herself being attended to by the court physician, who treated her for all manner of cuts, scrapes, brakes, and bruising caused by what her mother, Cora, cited as injuries due to various accidents while riding. The court physician, Sir Garth, however, was quoted as saying that such wounds as those on the young girl could not have all been made via riding accidents, and he was certain Princess Regina had often been subjected to some type of physical punishment that ended in many of the wounds on her body. Sir Garth was never able, or perhaps willing, to substantiate his suspicions, and his services were discontinued shortly after Princess Regina was married to King Leopold."

She shut the book. "It's not what I'd call hardcore journalism, and it reads a little better than a history book from school, but, Regina, is this all true?"

The older woman pursed her lips in thought. The evening was suddenly not going as planned, and she considered her options carefully. She drained the glass and set it down next to Emma's still half full glass before she said a word. When she did speak, her eyes looked away into the distance, and her face was as impassive as a Grecian marble statue. "That book was written by a foolish woman who went by the name of Lysandra. I remember the day she came to me to propose the writing of that book. She spoke of writing the history of my greatness so future generations would know, and I liked the idea so much I decided to spare her life for interrupting my morning bath. I gave her permission to write the book and to speak to whomever she felt she needed to in order to complete it. I gave strict orders that anyone she spoke to would be honest about my greatness." She raised an eyebrow at the phrasing of her sentence to accentuate the unspoken threat to her subjects that said they were not to speak ill of her.

Taking in a deep breath, Regina turned her gaze back to the blonde. "I also recall the moment I finished reading the first copy of the book. She didn't have a chance to register what had happened before her heart was in my hand. The fool," she scoffed. "Instead of writing of my greatness, she had written a book showing my weaknesses and highlighting everything that is better left untold. It never occurred to me to ask her how many copies were circulating before I declared her sentence for crossing me." She closed her eyes and slowly shook her head from side to side. "She told me while she begged and pleaded with me for her life that she thought telling the truth about me would be a way to set me free from the prison I had placed myself in." She opened her eyes again, and they held the same harsh judgment then as they did the day the unfortunate author had uttered those words. "Hubris. For one whose name means liberator, the only thing she freed was my extensive anger and wrath." Regina reached forward and took Emma's glass of wine, taking a small sip from it as she leaned back against the arm of the sofa.

"So, what you're telling me is," the sheriff tried not to let out the frustrated sigh that was threatening to escape, and her face twitched with the effort not to show both her disgust and her sympathy, "that you killed her because she wrote a book that told the truth about your childhood all the way up to the war?"

Regina inclined her head to confirm.

Emma blew out a long stream of air as she ran a hand over her face. "You're a piece of work. You know that?"

"I've been called far worse," Regina answered between sips of wine.

The sheriff waved a hand in front of her as if to say they should move on. Staring ahead for a time, she thought about everything she'd learned as she let the silence linger. It took a moment for a thought to fully form in her mind, and, when it did, it surprised her. "Why didn't you try to kill the Blue Fairy? She's as much to blame as anyone, isn't she?"

"What do you mean?" Again, Regina pursed her lips in thought.

"She's the fairy that comes down when you wish upon a star, right?" Emma winced. The sentences she found herself saying these days just kept getting stranger and more uncomfortable. "I'm certain you wished on a star more than once for help dealing with your mother and the situations you found yourself in that you couldn't get out of, which means the Blue Fairy heard you and didn't answer. So, why not blame her for some of this?"

The brunettes eyebrows shot up, and her face actually displayed true surprised. "I'd never considered that before."

"I hope I didn't just give you another target," Emma grumbled.

"We've been through this, Ms. Swan. I don't do that sort of thing any longer. However," Regina tilted her head to the side, "you bring up a valid point. I suppose I thought I must not have been worthy of help. If what Mother said was true, and I was truly as disobedient and awful of a child as she said, then that would mean I would get no help from a being like the Blue Fairy. She only helps those who have a good heart and untainted soul."

Emma shook her head in disbelief. "You do realize what you just said, right? You basically just called yourself unworthy of saving, even as a kid. That's bullshit, Regina. If this book is accurate, then you  _were not_  a bad kid. You were a good kid who was in a really crappy situation with no one there to help you out of it, no one you could ask for help who would or could help you, and no way to get away from your situation."

Regina's voice was thick with sarcasm. "Are you making excuses for me, Ms. Swan?"

"No. I'm just running down the facts. You don't get off that easily. You could have chosen to do a few things differently. I'm still not convinced you really had a choice in most of it, but, until I learn otherwise, I'm going with what I know. And what I know is that you had a crappy childhood with a lot of things happening that were way beyond your control. It sort of makes mine look like a rose garden." She snorted.

"Roses have thorns," Regina countered, "and I'm aware of what you went through as a child. I've seen your record, and I've seen the records from the foster care system. Sydney is nothing if not thorough." She frowned at the memory of her now institutionalized lackey. "If you and I are going to speak honestly with each other, then I think we should be frank about both sides of this. Based on how you grew up, you could have easily turned out to be just as… questionable as I."

"Yeah… no," Emma shook her head. "I always had an advocate of some kind, whether it was an active social worker or a school teacher or a foster parent who cared about me but couldn't keep me. Even at the worst of times in my life, there was always someone fighting in my corner even when I had stopped fighting for myself, and, when I was out of the system, I lost my way. You've seen my record. You know I was in jail, and I didn't get there because I was living a perfectly law abiding life. But, for a lot of my life, I had someone there, and that sort of keeps a person grounded. Who did you have?"

"My father." Regina looked away again, this time rolling her eyes up to stare at the ceiling. "I had my father."

"No offense, but, according to this book, he wasn't much of an advocate," Emma said as gently as she could manage.

"Perhaps not, but he loved me regardless of who or what I became. He was there for me. He supported me, and he never judged me." Regina visibly gathered herself together and looked back to the blonde. "I loved my father very much, and he loved me unconditionally."

"The book doesn't say what happened to him, but I know he has a tomb here, so I assume he died." The younger woman glanced uncomfortably around the room. "Frankly, I'm afraid to ask."

For the first time since Emma had known Regina, the former mayor looked physically ill and truly emotionally fragile. A very long, tense instant struggled by as she waited to see what Regina would say or do, and she was completely thrown when a tear slide down the older woman's cheek.

"I've done some truly despicable things, Ms. Swan." Regina's voice quivered slightly. "I believe most would think the curse that sent us all here would be the worst, but that's only because they don't know how the curse was enacted." She ran a finger under her eye to wipe the single tear away. "In so many ways, I could argue that the curse wasn't as much of a curse as many are want to believe. People like your friend Ruby or like Dr. Whale have gained a second chance they never would have had in their own worlds, and I would argue they are now thriving where, in their respective past lives, they would have likely only fallen further into despair." The brunette pulled her legs closer to herself, sitting the second empty glass on the coffee table as she did so. "It gave me a second chance, too," she said, her voice soft. "But, to get here, the sacrifice had to be large."

Emma slowly licked her lips and swallowed the lump down in her throat. "How large?"

"When he first gave the spell to me, Rumplestilsken failed to fully explain that to me, or, perhaps I truly didn't care." Regina gave a halfhearted shrug. "I think I didn't care. There were others that warned me. My only friend, Maleficent, told me enacting the curse would leave a hole in my heart that could never be filled, and my only response at the time was, 'So be it." She gave a mirthless laugh that sounded so pained that Emma winced at the sound. "My own hubris."

"Regina, you don't have to tell me this if you don't want to."

"Someone should know. Why not you?" The brunette took in a deep breath and began in a strong but wary voice. "The curse said I had to sacrifice the heart of the one I loved the most. I had a horse, my prized steed. I thought his heart would do. He was one of the very few animals or people that I held in any regard at all. I'd had him when Daniel was killed, and that horse was one of my only connections to him. I sacrificed the horse's heart, but the spell didn't work. When I went to Rumplestilsken, he told me that my sacrifice had to be personally as large as the curse." Her eyes moved to the top of the coffee table and remained on the empty wine glasses. "I spoke to Daddy about it. I told him what the imp had said. I told him I was conflicted, that all I wanted was to be happy. He told me we could start over somewhere else away from everything, and we could be happy together somewhere else."

Despite her best efforts, another tear feel, and Regina did nothing to stop it. "I was too far gone, too wrapped up in my need to destroy Snow White and too caught up in the power of the magic I was dealing in. I wasn't strong enough to walk away from it." Her eyes moved back to Emma's. "I honestly didn't think I could. As far as I was concerned, there was only one way out for me."

"I truly loved my father, Ms. Swan, but I loved myself, my greed, and my need for magic more." She again looked up to stop the threatening tears from falling. "I took his heart, killing him instantly, and I used it to enact the curse."

The air was heavy, and Regina waited to see what Emma would do with this new piece of information.

Emma sat in the chair and leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees as she steepled her fingers together in thought. The book now rested on the ground before her, and she let her eyes remain on the darkened, aged leather as she let her mind process. Minutes ticked by, and, still, she didn't say a word.

Regina watched her, taking in the intense expression on the blonde's face. Her eyes caught the throb at the blonde's temples caused by the slow grinding of her teeth as she thought, and she listened to the younger woman's breathing as it increased a notch.

Slowly standing from her place, Emma carefully walked over to Regina and held her hand out to the seated woman. Confused and curious, Regina placed her own in the blonde's and allowed the younger woman to pull her to her feet.

It was a stilted and uncertain motion, but Emma managed to pull the brunette to her and wrap her arms around the tensed body of the other woman, giving her a hug as she whispered quietly into Regina's ear, "I'm sorry."

The tears finally escaped Regina and flowed freely. For the first time she could recall, Regina allowed herself to be held as she cried for the loss of her father, and, in a different sense, for the loss of self that had slowly happened to her as she struggled through life in the Enchanted Forest.

 


	21. Chapter 21

Emma frowned as she looked down at the coffee grinder. Rolling her eyes at the pretentious way Regina insisted on making something as simple as coffee, she grunted and grumbled to herself as she ground the beans, poured them into the French press, and added the hot water from the kettle.

After putting the top on the press, the blonde looked down at her clothes to make sure she hadn't missed the mark and managed to get coffee grounds on her pristinely white and crisply ironed button down. For whatever reason, she had woken up early in the morning, and she had been compelled to hunt down Regina's laundry area so she could iron her shirt, which was odd considering she was only wearing a pair of jeans and her brown leather boots.

She shrugged. Today was a big day, and it seemed likely it was her nerves playing games with her as she tried to ramp up to the inevitable battle at the town hall meeting that was happening that afternoon.

Turning to look out the window that overlooked the mansion's backyard, she let her frown pull her mouth down even more. For two days in a row, she had woken up before the sun rose, and, today, she was up before Regina. It was weird, and the whole universe felt off to her.

She shook her head in disbelief of how her life was beginning to play out. She'd gone from a single, unattached, roaming nomad who worked as a bail bondsman and had no family at all to a single mother, who was firmly planted in a town where she was sheriff, and now, not only did she have a family, but her family were none other than  _the_ Snow White and Prince Charming. The whole thing left her head spinning. It was like waking up one day to discover you were in a completely different body, and you had no idea how it happened or how to behave in it.

The thought crossed her mind that her life had become absurd. She was staying with the Evil Queen who had cursed a bunch of fairytale characters to a life without happiness in Maine. Even the name of the town was ridiculous, if you thought about it.

"Ms. Swan, I can't believe you're already up, dressed, and looking somewhat presentable," Regina said with an odd sleepiness to her voice as she stepped into the kitchen.

Emma jumped, letting out a little squeak of surprise as she turned from the window to look at the intruder. "Regina?" Her voice emphasized the surprise her face showed.

The brunette raised an eyebrow to mock the sheriff. "You were expecting Mother Goose?"

"No," Emma shook her head and gave the other woman a hard look. "Wait, is she real? No, scratch that. Don't tell me. I don't want to know." She waved a hand in the air and tried to ignore the other woman's amused smirk at her sudden uncomfortableness. "I'm just surprised that  _you're_ not dressed. I don't think I've ever seen you…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words.

"In a dressing gown?" Regina's eyebrows rose together, and she rolled her eyes. "I normally wake up, make my way down here to turn the water on to boil for my coffee, and then go back to my room to finish getting ready in the morning. Don't look so surprised, Ms. Swan. Even  _I_ sleep."

"Well, yeah, I didn't think you didn't sleep." It was Emma's turn to roll her eyes. She sighed and tried to shrug off her shock at seeing Regina less than regally presentable. Narrowing her eyes, she asked in a skeptical voice, "There's no way you  _just_  rolled out of bed a few minutes ago. You have no bedhead, and you look like you're wearing makeup." She leaned a little closer to the other woman. "Really? You're not wearing makeup? You  _actually_ look this good all the time?" Clearly frustrated, she turned to grab a couple of coffee mugs from their place in the cabinet. "Of course you do," she grumbled mostly to herself.

"I'd thank you for the backhanded compliment, but I can't decide if you mean it as such or if you're simply rambling as you normally do." With a chuckle, Regina moved beside the blonde and took a mug from the other woman's hand. "How strongly do you brew your coffee?"

Emma turned, tilting her head back to look down at the brunette with an intentional air of over confidence. "You know the saying, right?" She smirked as Regina's cautious but questioning look. The sheriff's smirk turned mischievous. "I like my coffee like I like my lovers – strong and hot." She winked and poured them both a cup.

"Cute," the former mayor murmured with a slight hint of amusement while she watched the coffee being poured. "Why  _are_ you up so early, Ms. Swan?"

"I honestly don't know," Emma said with a frown. "I woke up about an hour ago, and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I gave up and started my day. How'd you sleep last night?"

"I've slept longer," Regina answered from behind her mug of coffee, "but," she paused, really giving her answer thought, "I can't recall the last time I slept as well." She hesitated for a heartbeat. "Thank you, Ms. Swan."

The young woman blushed slightly. "I don't need it. I told you I would listen, and that's what I did. I meant it when I said you could talk to me and trust me. I won't tell anyone what you told me last night. Your secrets are safe with me."

"I believe you," came the quiet reply. Clearing her throat, Regina decided it was time to break the emotional moment. "What were you thinking about when I walked in? I sincerely hope you weren't considering cutting off another branch from my apple tree. I think you've traumatized it enough already, don't you?"

Emma gave the older woman a sideways glare. "If you really want to know, I was thinking about the name for this town. 'Storybrooke'? Really?" Regina gave a look that said she wasn't following. "Storybrooke. Sound it out. Stor-e-brook. Stor-e-book. Come on!" The blonde rolled her eye. "You basically named the town 'storybook'. You couldn't name it something that had nothing to do with fairytales?"

Regina's eyes widened. "Like what, Sheriff?"

"I don't know." Emma shrugged. "Like Mottsville or Canton or  _anything else_." She waved her free hand in the air. "Dallas! Something,  _anything_ , other than storybook."

"Brook." Regina corrected in a flat voice. "Dallas? Really, Ms. Swan?"

"What? It was a great TV show!" Emma smiled, giving the older woman a little nudge with her shoulder. "Did you watch it?"

"Yes," Regina set her empty mug in the sink. "JR was my favorite character."

"Of course he was," Emma commented as she began to clean the dishes they'd just finished dirtying. "Will you make breakfast when you come back down?"

Regina stopped at the doorway leading out of the kitchen. "Yes. Will you wake Henry and get him ready for school?"

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, I'm on it."


	22. Chapter 22

The bell rang brightly singling the entrance of Belle and Gold into Granny's for their afternoon meal. The little diner bustled with activity as Belle waved to Ruby and they made their way to an empty booth. The whole town seemed to be buzzing about the upcoming town hall meeting, and Granny's Diner was no exception. Each table they passed on their way to their booth seemed to have a different conversation going on, but the topic was the same.

What was Emma Swan going to say about Regina Mills, and was the rumor true that Emma had moved in with the Evil Queen and taken Henry with her?

As they slide into their respective places at the booth, Belle rolled her eyes. "I wish everyone would follow Emma's lead and give Regina a chance."

"Why would they do that?" Gold's jaw flexed. "They have no reason to forgive her for the things she's done to them."

"Rumple," Belle's voice held an edge of disappointment to it, "if Regina is trying to redeem herself, I think we should support her."

"Support her? Belle, you make it sound as if we owe her something. We owe her nothing, and she's…"

"Trying. She's trying, and don't sit there and tell me she's not worth trying to save." She gave him a hard look. "She has people who love her, and you know what that means."

He raised his eye brows in surprise. "Who?"

Trying to hold back a frustrated sigh, she said with a patient voice, "Henry loves her. It's clear every time he's around her that he wants it to be okay that he loves her, and it's up to us to show him that it is." She smiled gently. "He's still a child. He's got to be taught what it means to forgive and accept, but he wants to, and I think that's a good thing."

Gold rolled his eyes. "Of course he still loves her. She raised him; it should go without saying that there's some kind of attachment there, but that doesn't mean she deserves any help from us. Besides, Henry has his birth mother and her parents to support him. You said it yourself. He's a child." He made a motion with his hand to indicate that Henry's thoughts were not important to this conversation.

Belle tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "Emma loves her."

"What?" The old man sat up straighter in his seat. "How do you know that? Did she tell you that?"

"Not in so many words, but anyone who is willing to do what Emma is about to do today at the town hall meeting has to care about Regina in some way." At this, she did sigh. "Is it so wrong to want to see Regina happy, Rumple? Why can't we all end this pointless feud and try to start getting along with each other? You know I believe everyone has some good in them." She reached over to place her hand atop his where it rested on the table. "Would it be so wrong to encourage Regina's good side?"

"Regina's  _what_?" Ruby stepped up to the table, notepad in hand.

Belle gave her a bright smile. "We were just talking about the town hall meeting this afternoon."

"Like everyone else here," the curvy brunette said with a roll of her eyes. "I don't know what the big deal is. Frankly, I think Emma might be onto something. I mean, it'd be nice to get the potholes fixed on Main Street, and the last time any maintenance was done on the actual town was when Regina was Mayor, so…" she trialed off to let them fill in the blank.

"I was telling Rumple that I think we should encourage Regina in her attempt to redeem herself. I think it would be good for her, Henry, and the town." Belle glanced across the table to her companion. "Right?"

Gold grumbled under his breath for a second. "Yes, I suppose you do have a point. It would be nice to stop having to worry about random fights in the middle of town."

Ruby's smile widened just a touch. "Those are kind of fun to watch as long as nothing gets destroyed. The last time you two had a showdown, I won 20 bucks."

"You've been placing bets on me?" Gold's eyes grew hostile. "Why you would think that's a good idea?"

"Because I was about 90% sure you'd win, so I placed it on  _you_." Ruby shrugged. "I'm going to miss the fighting. I won enough money to buy a new outfit." She shrugged. "Oh well, I'd rather you and Regina were getting along than win the money anyway."

He rolled his eyes. "May I have a cup of coffee, please?"

"Oh, and a glass of tea for me," Belle said with a gracious smile.

Ruby nodded and turned away to tend to their orders and check on the other tables.

"Don't be so huffy," Belle said with a light touch of amusement in her voice. "At least you won the fight that time."

"I win the fight  _every_ time," he snapped back.

"Rumple," Belle's voice was serious yet cautious, "if you don't want to support Emma's attempts to help Regina, promise me you at least won't get in the way."

His eyes grew wide with surprise. "What would make you think I care either way?"

"Please," she asked in stern tone. "I mean it. Promise me that you'll either help or you'll leave it alone, but you won't try to make it worse."

He grunted and pulled his hand away from hers. "Belle, I don't care what Emma  _or_ Regina do so long as they don't bother me or you. But," his hard look softened a bit, "if it means that much to you, fine. I promise  _I_  won't interfere with Regina's attempts to play nice with the good people of Storybrooke."

Belle was quiet for a long time as she tried to gauge his level of sincerity and what his promise actually entailed. "And you won't help anyone else get in the way of her attempts to be a better person either."

"Belle!" Gold was clearly growing more agitated by the second.

"Rumple," her voice was growing more serious by the second. "Promise me."

"Oh, this is ridiculous. I'm done with this conversation. Now, can we  _please_ just order our food and talk about something else?" He looked around for Ruby to flag her.

"Promise me." Belle's eyes drilled into him.

"Yes, fine, I promise." He rolled his eyes. "I won't interfere in anyway. There. Are you satisfied?"

She smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, thank you. Would you like to split a burger?"

With a heavy sigh, Gold leaned back in his seat and picked up the menu. "Maybe…"

* * *

"Leroy," Archie's eyebrows rose in surprise, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You got a second?" The smaller man stood at the psychiatrist's doorway but was clearly torn about whether he should step inside.

"Of course, come in. I don't have anyone else scheduled for today." He smiled. "I wanted to make sure I could make the town hall meeting this afternoon."

"Yeah, about that," Leroy grumbled a bit. "I don't like this whole idea of letting Regina run the town again, and I was thinking you might be willing to step up during the meeting and back us up on it."

"Us?" Archie tilted his head in question. "Who would that be?"

"Well, me and the other guys, and Mary Margaret and David, Marco, and Granny," Leroy grunted. "Ruby's not with us, but I'm sure Granny'll change her mind soon enough."

Hopper sat back in his office chair and stared up at the other man with a look somewhere between confusion and pity. "You want me to testify in front of the town that Regina isn't mentally fit to be the mayor? Is that it?"

"Well she's not." Crossing his arms, Leroy's glare bore down at the doctor. "We all know she can't be trusted. She's a pathological liar. We all know she's a sociopath. How can we let her run our town again?"

Archie's frown deepened and he ran a hand across his chin in thought. "I'm sorry, Leroy, but I won't do that."

"What do mean you  _won't_  do that? You won't stand up with the rest of us to keep Regina from taking the town over again?" The miner was clearly shocked. " _Why not?_ "

"Because I don't believe it." Doctor Hopper stood from his chair and crossed over to his filing cabinet. He dug through his files until he found a photo, which he held up to the other man. "Do you see this picture?"

Leroy squinted at it. "It's a picture of Henry and Regina. So what?"

Archie bobbed his head. "A person who would choose to adopt and raise a son alone at least has the potential for more than destruction, especially given  _how_ Henry's been raised." He returned the photograph and closed the drawer. "The fact that Henry is a good boy who is neither destructive nor what we might classify as 'evil' indicates that Regina not only knows and understands the difference between the concepts of 'good' and 'evil' but she can differentiate between them well enough to act in a manner that would teach Henry how to be a good person. If such is the case, then that means Regina still has the capacity to, herself, be a good person."

Shaking his head, Archie made his way back to his office chair. "I feel the only way for her to reach that potential is to encourage it and to encourage the things that would help her stay away from the things that tempt her to be less than a good role model for Henry." He sat down again, and the chair squeaked a bit as he settled into it. "Frankly, I think it would be a good idea to allow Regina to take the role of mayor back."

"You've got to be kidding me," Leroy roared. "How can you believe that? You know  _everything_ she's done. How can you possibly trust her at this point?"

"I believe Regina is honestly trying to change, and I believe that trust is something to be earned." Archie's face was resolute. "The only way for Regina to start building trust is to give her a chance, and, with a transparent government in place, which I'm fairly certain Emma will propose, Regina has the perfect opportunity to begin building those bridges and establishing herself as someone we can all start to potentially trust again, and vice versa."

"First Emma and Henry, then Ruby, and now you?" Leroy threw his hands up in the air. "This whole town is going insane." Slapping his arms down against his sides, he turned and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

Archie raised an eyebrow and glanced down at his dog. "That went well, don't you think?"

Pongo lifted his head and gave a little whine.


	23. Chapter 23

"I don't like how this is going, David." Mary Margaret pushed her lunch around on her plate. "We're fighting with Emma, we haven't really seen Henry  _or_  Emma for a couple of days, and the town is starting to divide up into camps over whether or not Regina should be mayor again." Her frown deepened as she glanced up to where he stood on the other side of the kitchen island. "You ever get an odd feeling of déjà vu?"

"Around here?" He lifted his eyebrows and gave a little smirk. "All the time."

She chuckled a little and then sighed heavily. "I went off the deep end didn't I?"

"I'd say going over to confront Regina a second time might have been a little much." He took a seat and started on his salad. "I'm surprised all she did was tell you to leave."

"Honestly," she pushed her plate away, "so am I now that I think about it. Maybe she really is trying to change? But we know she's also good at deception. Of course, that was before Henry came along, but she's done a lot very bad things since Henry's been in her life." She shook her head. "I don't know. I want us to do the right thing for everyone, but, at the same time, I'm tired of getting burned by Regina."

"I understand that." David leaned down a bit so he could make eye contact with his wife. "You've been really aggressive about this situation, and I understand that you want to protect our family and the town, but," he held a hand up as if to say 'don't hurt me', "you're not really acting like yourself, even with regard to Regina. You want to talk about what's going on?"

Taking in a deep breath, she leaned back a little so she could cross her arms in front of her. "I don't know. I think I'm worried that Emma is going to get hurt or something's going to happen to her. She doesn't know Regina like we do, and she doesn't understand how important it is to always keep your guard up around her. I think Emma wants Regina to change because it's what Henry wants, but I'm afraid she's so blinded by her determination to prove Regina  _can_ change that she's going to miss something that might end up getting her really hurt or worse."

"You think Regina is setting us up so she can kill Emma?" David's face was tense.

"I don't want to think that. I want to believe that Regina is really trying to change. But, what if she's not? At some point, we have to learn from our mistakes, from history. History tells us that we keep giving her all these chances to do the right thing, and she keeps doing the wrong thing. How many times are we going to fall into the same trap?" She huffed.

They sat in quiet contemplation for a bit, both lost to memories of the past. The sound of David's phone ringing threw them from their thoughts, and he answered it just before it went to voicemail.

"Leroy, what's wrong? You did what? Why would you… I see. I can't say that I'm surprised. What? No, I don't think that. I think you should have come to us first before going to see Archie. As a matter of fact, we were just talking about it, but we still haven't fully… No, Leroy, and I don't think you should, either. I think we should wait until the town hall meeting today to see what everyone…"

He pulled the phone away from his ear, wincing slightly. Mary Margaret raised an eyebrow in question. "He hung up on me."

She rolled her eyes. "Do I want to know?"

"He apparently went to Archie to see if he would stand up at the meeting today and testify that Regina isn't mentally fit to run the town." David set his phone down on the island. "Archie didn't agree with him."

She made a face. "I bet that went over well."

"About as well you'd think." David picked up the dishes and began to clean up from their lunch. "What do you feel we should do?"

Giving a shrug, the pixie haired brunette turned to look out her windows and into the afternoon sky. "I can't shake the feeling that Emma's being manipulated in some way."

David slowly turned toward his wife. "How do you mean?"

"This whole situation, how she's behaving, is just so unlike her." She turned back to her husband. "Emma's our child, David. We're supposed to protect her, and, for most of her life, we haven't been able to. But we can now, and I think we should at least try. If Regina is using some kind of spell to force Emma to act this way, I think we have a duty to find out."

"What if she's not?" David leaned against the sink and crossed his arms. "What if she's honestly trying to help Regina?"

"She can help Regina and still not be so close to her." Mary Margaret stood, walking to the door. "I think we need to chat with Mr. Gold."

David quickly pushed away from the counter to go after her. "What? Why?"

"I need to know." She began putting her coat on. "If we're seriously considering allowing Regina to run the town again as mayor, then I need peace of mind. I need to know she's not using magic and especially that she's not using magic to manipulate our daughter."

"Mary Margaret," David grabbed her by the elbow and spun her around to look at him. "What happened to not making deals with Gold? You know what it means to make a deal with him. You're worried about what Regina  _might_ do, but what about what Gold  _would_ do if we gave him an open ended favor?"

"I'll take my chances," she glared up at him. "Are you coming or not?"

He grunted in frustration and then grabbed his coat before following her out the door.

* * *

Gold looked up from the book he was reading as Mary Margaret entered his shop followed by a very frazzled looking David. Tilting his head to the side and narrowing his eyes, he placed a marker in the book and set it down on the glass counter before addressing the couple. "To what do I owe  _this_  pleasant surprise?"

Mary Margaret wasted no time. "We need a favor."

Straightening his posture, Gold's face cleared of any emotions that might give away his thoughts. "Oh? What kind of favor?"

Ignoring David's uncomfortable shifting behind her, she answered with determination. "We need to know if Regina is using magic to manipulate Emma."

"Ah," Gold picked up his cane and started to walk toward the other side of his store. "This is about the town hall meeting today and the rumor going around that Emma has moved in with Regina."

"She hasn't moved in," the brunette snapped back. "Can you help us or not?"

Gold shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I can't help you this time, Ms. Blanchard." He shrugged. "I've already made other agreements that bind me from assisting you with this. But," he held a finger up to keep her silent, "I'm certain you know of  _other_ magic users whom you have better relations with that may be of some help to you."

A sound from the back of the store made them all look up in time to see Belle enter the front. She glanced around at all of them and then shot a warning look directly at Gold. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, Belle," Gold answered in a clipped tone. "Mr. Nolan and Ms. Blanchard were just leaving." He turned to the couple. "Weren't you?"

"You're really not going to help us?" Mary Margaret's face had fallen into a look somewhere between anger and desperation. "We're offering you a favor in exchange."

"I'm sorry, but no." The older man looked to Belle and then back to guests. "I've already told you that I've made other agreements that would be in conflict with assisting you. But, as I've said before, I'm not the only magic user in this town. Perhaps someone else can help you, but  _I_ cannot. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a few things to attend to before the town hall meeting this afternoon." He looked at them expectantly.

"Fine," Mary Margaret turned to David. "Let's go." They left; she in a fit of irritation and he in subdued acceptance.

As the door to the shop closed behind them, Belle turned to the older man to look him in the eye. "Rumple," her voice held an edge of disappointment to it. "You promised me you wouldn't get involved."

"And I didn't. I told them I couldn't help them. You heard me." He scowled down at her.

"You also gave them a suggestion on where they could go to get help. How is that  _not_ breaking your promise to me?" She crossed her arms and glared.

"I simply suggested something they already knew and would have probably come up with on their own." He rolled his eyes. "It wasn't really much help at all."

"If they find help from someone else for whatever it is they want," Belle turned back to the closed door, "is it going to hurt Emma or Regina?"

"I don't think so." His voice was softer now, as if he was genuinely trying to assure his companion. "They're concerned about the safety of their daughter. You can't really fault them for that, can you?"

Belle shook her head. "What if whatever it is they end up doing  _does_  hurt Regina's progress?"

"Well," Gold took a step away and turned toward the curtain that separated the front and back of his store, "every story needs at least one villain, and the town  _has_  been quiet recently. Besides, it would be nice to have the old Regina back. She can be incredibly useful under certain circumstances."

The young woman scoffed at him. "That's not funny, Rumple."

"Who said I was joking, Belle?" He returned before disappearing behind the curtain, leaving her alone in the front of the store.


	24. Chapter 24

"Mother Superior," Mary Margaret's face was a mix of emotions as she addressed the fairy turned nun. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I've come to ask you about something that I feel is very important."

The other woman's face showed only concern. "Of course. What's happened?"

Mary Margaret glanced to David and then back to the nun. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors around town about Emma and Regina, and I'm sure you've read Emma's letter in the paper regarding today's town hall meeting." She swallowed down the lump in her throat. "We're concerned about Emma. We'd like to make sure that Regina isn't using magic to manipulate her in some way."

"And you want me to find out?" The nun frowned. "That's not something that can easily be done without being near the person and having some time to cast the appropriate spell." She paused for a beat in thought. "It would actually be best to do it when the person is alone."

David let out a heavy sigh. "I really don't think we're in a position to talk Emma into coming over for a friendly chat right now."

"I don't understand." Mother Superior looked between the couple. "From where is this concern coming? Has there been some kind of indication that Regina has turned back to dark magic? How do we know Emma's in danger?"

"We know she's not acting like herself," Mary Margaret offered, her voice pleading and earnest. "We also know that Regina has, in the past, done whatever she could in order to hurt me and my family." She made a motion with her hand as if to say the last comment wasn't as important as it had sounded coming from her. "I'm just very worried for Emma  _and_ Henry's safety. Regina hasn't earned the right to be trusted yet, and I'm afraid that Emma hasn't learned how important it is to be watchful of Regina and her changing moods."

"I see." The nun's face darkened as she considered the situation. "There's really no way to check on Emma in the way you're asking without her being near me, and I would really need to be alone with her. However, we could prevent Emma from being too near Regina, and, from there, we might be able to check her to see if she's being otherwise influenced by dark magic."

"How?" David's skepticism shown intensely on his face. "It's not like we can storm into Regina's house and drag Emma kicking and screaming out it." He shrugged. "Even if we did, we couldn't prevent her from going back there, and I think it's clear that the more we insist she leave Regina alone, the more she's going to keep doing what she's doing."

Mother Superior scowled. "I see your point. However, I still think I might be able to help if you truly feel your daughter might be in danger."

"We do," Mary Margaret cut in quickly.

"There's an enchantment I can perform which may be placed on a talisman. When worn by an individual, the enchantment prevents that person from having contact with a specific person, place, or thing." She actually chuckled, and it surprised the other two. "In fact, it's a common spell fairies use to prevent children from doing certain things."

David gave a little grunt. "It's the fairy equivalent of grounding someone?"

"Yes, that's a good description," the nun nodded. "It can last a few days or up to a few weeks. It's not permanent, but it should give you enough time to make certain Emma and Henry are both safe. We could place the enchanted item with them, have them go home, and I could then come over to see about possible influences Regina may have placed on them. Will that do?"

"Yes, anything to help with this situation," Mary Margaret nodded her head emphatically. "If it means protecting Emma and Henry and it won't hurt anyone, then I think it's worth a try."

"Wait a minute," David cut in again. " _How,_ exactly, would it prevent Emma from having contact with Regina?"

"She would recognize the want to contact Regina," Mother Superior explained, "but, when she tried, she would find that she simply couldn't do it. It would be physically impossible for her to do so."

Mary Margaret tilted her head to the side in thought. "And what if she removes the talisman?"

"It only works so long as the person wears the talisman," the nun explained.

David shook his head. "Mary Margaret, this is a bad idea. You know this is only going upset Emma more. Maybe we should just try to talk to her again when she's not around Regina?"

"Maybe we should try both?" His wife was already digging in her purse for something. "I have just the thing to enchant for both Henry and Emma."

The former Blue Fairy nodded sagely. "For how long?"

Mary Margaret stopped digging in her purse for a brief moment as she said, "How long can you make it?"

* * *

"I can't remember the last time I was this nervous," Emma said as she ran a hand down her still crisply ironed shirt.

"It'll be okay, Ma," Henry said with a reassuring smile on his face. "Everyone in town likes you. I think they'll listen."

"Or they'll run me up a flagpole," she mumbled in response.

"Such negativity, Sheriff," Regina said with an air of amusement as she pulled on her well-tailored suit jacket.

"You're one to talk," Emma fired back, shooting a hard look at the other woman. "A couple of minutes ago you were telling me how hopeless my case was."

"I haven't changed my mind," the former mayor said as she dug through her coat closet to pick out the perfect coat to go with her outfit. "But, if you insist on going through with this plan of yours, then I think the least you could do is  _sound_ positive about it."

"Regina," the blonde's voice was tired and her frustration shown through, "I'm a realist at heart. I'm going to try because I believe in what I'm saying, but we both know that my parents are on the other side of this issue. It's not going to be easy."

Henry grabbed her by the hand. "But you'll still try, right?"

"Well, yeah, kid, of course. That's why we're going." She gave him a slight smile.

"Henry," Regina tilted her head to the side to consider the young boy, "do  _you_ want me to be mayor again?"

His face turned serious. "Well yeah. I mean, I think Emma's right, and it always looked like you liked your job. You were good at it, and," his little face scrunched up for a moment as he glanced down at the floor and his voice became a twinge sadder, "you were happier when you were the mayor."

The brunette held her breath as she squatted down to be eyelevel with her son. "You want me to be happy," she asked, her voice breathy from the flood of emotions she was holding back.

He gave her a quizzical look. "Of course I want you to be happy. You're my mom." He glanced up quickly to Emma for approval, who offered him a proud look and a nod of her head.

Regina gave Henry one of her rare, genuine smiles as she reached out to place a hand on his cheek. "Thank you."

The young blonde cleared her throat to break up the emotional tension in the room. "Regina," she said gently, "we really need to get going. We probably shouldn't be late."

The older woman nodded as she stood up again. "I'll drive."

"Of course you will," Emma grumbled but the slight smile on her face remained. "You know, there's nothing wrong with my car. You could at least give it a chance."

"It's a deathtrap," Regina replied in a flat tone. They stepped outside, and she locked the door. "Besides, that car is entirely too small for a family to comfortably ride in."

"Oh, so we're a family now?" The sheriff teased as they all slid into their respective places in the car.

Regina gave Emma a sideways glare. "Don't put words in my mouth, Ms. Swan."

"We're not a family?" Henry called from the backseat, and Emma glanced back to see the same mischievous grin on his face that often graced her own.

"Of course  _we're_ a family, Henry," the brunette said, clearly getting flustered. "But I don't recall inviting the sheriff to join us."

"Too bad," Emma said as she turned back around in her seat. "I'm joining in anyway." Her smirk mirrored her son's. "You have better food here."

Regina rolled her eyes and sighed. "I should have expected as much, Ms. Swan. When have you  _ever_ stayed out of something that I've wanted you to?"

Henry spoke up over the sound of the car in motion. "I like it." His voice was chirpy and full of humor. "I get two moms, grandparents,  _and_ a really cool title."

"A title?" The younger woman looked to the driver, who shrugged. "What do you mean, kid?"

"Well," he said in a thoughtful voice. "If Mom is a queen, then that makes me a prince, right?  _And,_ if you're the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and they were king and queen, then that makes  _you_ a princess, which also makes  _me_ a prince." He sat up, proud of himself for making all those logical leaps. "So  _that means,_ I'm a prince twice!"

Regina's eyebrows rose in acknowledgement. "He does have a point."

"I  _am not_ a princess!" Emma's shriek only served to amuse both of the other people in the car.

"No," the brunette countered calmly. "Henry is technically correct. You  _are_ a princess based on those facts, and those facts are accurate." She smirked. "Perhaps I should start calling you Princess Swan?"

"That's not  _even_  funny, Regina." The sheriff crossed her arms and huffed in her seat. "Besides, since when did you get comfortable enough to tease me? What happened to, 'We're not friends. We're not allies'?"

"Since you decided to make yourself comfortable as part of my family," Regina responded smoothly as the car came to a stop in front of City Hall.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Right. Whatever, just don't call me Princess."

"I make no promises," Regina answered in her coolest of tones as they all climbed out of the car and began to make their way to toward the building.


	25. Chapter 25

As the sheriff and her entourage walked through the doors of City Hall and toward the large space meant for town hall meetings, Emma couldn't push down the unease she had been feeling all morning. Something was off, and it was more than just the fact she was about to talk to a hostile crowd and support a very unpopular opinion.

Her eyes kept scanning around them as they made their way, and she kept a protective hand on Henry's shoulder as he walked between her and Regina. As they came to a stop in front of the massive double doors, she found herself stepping in front of them so she could enter first, as if she were trying to shield them, but from what she wasn't sure.

"Sheriff, I don't need you to be my bodyguard," Regina scoffed, though she didn't try to force the other woman to move.

Emma turned around, a look of concern on her face. "I know you don't, but humor me. Okay? I just have a bad feeling, and I can't shake it."

"It'll be okay, Ma," Henry said. His eyes held nothing but hope. "You're just nervous because of all the stuff that's been going on."

"Maybe," Emma conceded. "But I've learned to trust my gut. Let me take the lead here. Something's fishy. The air doesn't feel right." She again glanced around them with a slightly wild look in her eyes.

"Have you suddenly developed the ability to see into the future, Ms. Swan?" Regina crossed her arms and tried not to roll her eyes. "Don't allow your fear of a situation to cloud your ability to go through with your plans. We've come this far, why stop now?"

"I'm not saying we should leave," the blonde snapped back. "I'm just saying that something's up. Look, I can't explain it. All I know is that I can  _feel_ it."

The former mayor glanced around while she actually took a moment to see if she, too, sensed anything. "There's magic here, but," her frown deepened, "that seems likely considering half the town is full of magical creatures." Blowing out a stream of air, she gave the sheriff a contemplative look. "Ms. Swan, how did you detect that? Do you have some sort of magical ability?"

Emma shrugged. "I have no idea. If I do have magic, I don't know how to control or tap into it, so I don't think it would matter either way. But some things happened with your mother just before Mary Margaret and I came back from the Enchanted Forest that I should probably tell you about after this meeting today, now that I think about." She winced at the memory, absentmindedly rubbing one of her hands across her chest. "Right now, we need to go inside. Ready?"

Regina's shoulders straightened and her face fell into a mask of control. "I am  _always_ ready."

The younger woman nodded and turned back toward the doors, opening both of them at the same time as she mumbled under her breath, "Let's hope so."

* * *

"Emma!" Mary Margaret quickly stood from her place on the stage and made her way down to where her daughter was standing just inside the doors. "I'm glad you're here."

"Of course I'm here," she gave her mother a confused look. "I'm the sheriff,  _and_ I have business to address with the town."

"Well, I just meant," the petite brunette looked bemused, "I'm glad you're here early. I've missed seeing you and Henry." She looked around. "Where is Henry?"

"He's with Regina." Emma pointed to the two, who were seated alone in the back row of chairs. "Why?"

"Oh, well, David and I brought you two something, and," Mary Margaret motioned for her husband to join them from where he stood speaking with Leroy and Granny Lucas, "we wanted to give it to you."

The sheriff narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Why?" Her mother looked affronted. "Because you're our family, we saw them, thought of you, and we wanted you to have them."

"Emma," David stepped into their conversation circle, "I'm glad to see you."

"Yeah," the blonde's eyes remained narrowed. "Mary Margaret said you had something for me and the kid. Is this something that can wait until after the meeting?" She glanced around. "It looks like everyone is here."

"I'd rather give it to you now, just in case things get busy after the meeting and we don't have a chance to see each other again," Mary Margaret said, her voice light.

David shrugged. "It's just a couple of little things we thought you and Henry would like."

"Okay." With a wave of her hand, she signaled for both Regina and Henry to join them. Her face held a wary look as the two approached, and her voice's intonation screamed she was suspicious of what was about to happen next. "Hey kid, Mary Margaret and David said they have something for us."

"Really?" Henry's face broke out into a broad grin. "What is it?"

Mary Margaret glanced from the face of her grandson to Regina and then to Emma. She gave a pained smile, clearly unhappy to have Regina present. "It's a pin." She pulled out two small pins from her purse. "They've been in the family for generations, and we thought the two of you might like them." She threw a glare at Regina before turning to look at Emma. "David and I realize you're not happy with us right now, but you are our daughter, and you know we only want to do what's best for you. We thought," she shrugged, holding her hand out with the decorative golden pins that held a family crest on the tips, "you might consider that. We also thought you might like something that's been in our family for so long."

Emma's eyes stared down at the small adornments in the palm of her mother's hand. Her instincts screamed something was off, but she couldn't place why. Glancing to Regina, who had the same worried look in her eye, she gave a little grunt. Regina returned the unspoken question with a facial expression that seemed to indicate she couldn't place what was wrong either.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret prodded. "Would you at least consider wearing it?"

After honestly taking a moment to deliberate on it, Emma nodded and picked one pin up, attaching it to her crisp, white shirt. Henry eagerly plucked the other from Mary Margaret's hand and pinned it to his shirt. He looked down at it and smiled broadly. "Is this our family crest?"

"Yes," Mary Margaret said, her voice soft with memories. "It was my mother's crest."

Regina gave an annoyed grunt and turned to leave. She had just made it back to her chair when Emma's voice caught her attention, and she looked up to see the younger woman's face contorted in rage and her body rigidly still.

"What in the hell did you do?" Emma growled as she tried to move toward Regina and could not. Henry appeared to have the same issue. "Why can't we move?"

The scene quickly gained attention as Mary Margaret tried to reason with her daughter. "We didn't do anything harmful," she pleaded. "Emma, just listen. We had to do something. Regina is…"

"No," Emma snapped back. She locked eyes with the former mayor. "Help us."

Regina quickly made her way back. "What have you done?"

"Nothing permanent," David assured her.

"We're just keeping you from doing anything else to them," Mary Margaret added.

" _I_?" Regina's eyes flared. "I've done nothing to them! The only thing I've done is be an agreeable hostess to the sheriff and a mother to our… to  _my_ son." Her hands balled up into fists at her sides. She turned toward Emma and reached a hand out to grab the younger woman by the elbow only to find she was stopped by an invisible barrier. She tried the same with Henry only to find she was blocked in the same manner.

"You will reverse this  _now_." Regina's body tensed more, and her eyes flashed with unused magic. "You will not keep me from my son  _or_ Ms. Swan. This is ridiculous."

Murmurs ran through the crowd of onlookers at the mention of Emma and Henry in the same breath coming from Regina. Mary Margaret glanced in their direction, throwing them a hard look and quieting them down.

"I'll do whatever I have to do to protect my family." The pixie haired brunette stepped into Regina's personal space. "You  _will not_ hurt me or my family again."

"Oh my God," Emma shouted. "This is  _not about you_ , Mary Margaret, and, if I want to spend time with Regina or Gold or Satan himself I will." The force she was using to try to move was evident in her straining muscles and the sweat beginning to bead along her hairline. "You don't get to tell me who I spend my downtime with, and you  _really_ don't get to use magic to make me do whatever it is I won't do voluntarily." She grunted, and her arm began to move.

The air sizzled with magical energy. The untapped reserve of white magic that resided within Emma surfaced, causing her own eyes to fill with a white light to match the dark swirls in Regina's own eyes. The sheriff placed her other hand on Henry's shoulder for balance as she fought against the magic.

"Emma, stop!" Mother Superior pushed through the crowd. "You must stop. Something is…"

"Stuff it," Emma cut in, not letting her finish.

The magical energy continued to build as Emma fought, and Regina finally saw what the Blue Fairy had already seen. "Ms. Swan," she yelled over the sound of the crackling energy in the room. "You need to stop." The blonde continued, and Regina began to panic. " _Emma_!" She yelled, voice hoarse. "You  _must…"_

The blonde's eyes flew up to meet Regina's at the sound of the former mayor using her first name. However, the warning was too late, and the last thing Regina saw of either Emma or Henry was a look of surprise on both of their faces, and then they were gone in a flash of brilliant light.

The room fell quiet, and everyone waited. Regina's voice roared through the room as she turned on Mother Superior. "Where are they?"

"I… I don't know." The nun looked ashamed and upset.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Regina stepped toward her. "How could you let this happen? No," she shook her head and turned on a still stunned Mary Margaret and David. "How could  _you_ let this happen? Your interference in matters that do not pertain to you is the reason for all of this." Regina made a wide motion with her hand. "Have you learned nothing?"

Mary Margaret's voice was just as angry, "If you would leave my family alone and stop trying to kill us, none of this would have happened."

"This is not my fault." Regina's voice boomed through the hall. "This is  _your_  fault. Once again, your desire to 'do the right thing' and 'protect the innocent' has resulted in hurting people that don't deserve it, people you claim to love. Let me tell you something, Snow White," she growled and pushed her face inches from the other woman's, "this is the  _last_ time I allow you to tear away from me the people I love. You wanted me to be the evil one? You wanted me to be the destructive force? Well, congratulations, you get your wish."

"Regina…" David's voice was heavy with worry.

"The same goes for you, Charming." The Evil Queen's voice resonated through all of them causing memories of their former lives and the destruction from the other land to flash through their minds as that all too familiar and chilling voice poured out of the former mayor. "You've sown your seeds. Now, reap them."

With a flick of her wrist, Regina pushed them both against a wall as she walked to the nun. "You," she growled. "You will tell me exactly what spell you've used."

"It was a simple enchantment, a grounding spell." Mother Superior tried to sound calm and rational. "There's no reason for this to have happened. I don't understand what went wrong. The only thing that should have occurred was for Emma and Henry to not be able to be closer than a few feet from you."

"A grounding spell?" Regina's eyes narrowed in thought. "There was more magic here than that." She paused as if something had just occurred to her. "Emma has magic."

"What?" The nun looked to the couple pinned to the wall. "You didn't tell me that."

"We didn't know," David replied with some difficulty. Mary Margaret said nothing, but her face indicated she might have had an inkling of an idea that Emma had some type of magic.

Mother Superior gave them a harsh look. "Her magic must have mixed with the enchantment," she calmly commented. "But where she and Henry are now is anyone's guess."

"This is unacceptable," Regina declared as she released the couple from the wall. They slammed into the ground, landing on thire backs. "I will find my son  _and_ Ms. Swan.  _You_ ," she glared at everyone else in the room, "will stay out of my way. Make no mistake. I will destroy anyone who tries to interfere, and, as for  _you_ ," she moved to Mary Margaret. Bending over and reaching quickly forward, her hand plunged into the petite woman's chest and came back with a heart clutched in her hand.

The people in the room drew in a collective gasp as David tried to do something to help his wife. Quickly realizing there was nothing he could do, he held back from attacking Regina in case she decided to crush the heart in her hand in retaliation.

"I should kill you now," Regina purred. "You've done enough, but I think, perhaps, I'll make you wonder." She cocked her head to the side, smirking. "Enjoy your time, dear. It's now borrowed." With a departing laugh, Regina vanished from the room in a cloud of dark purple smoke.


	26. Chapter 26

Emma and Henry awoke to the sound of birds chirping and the feel of dew forming on their skin. It was oddly peaceful and somewhat familiar to the sheriff as she slowly opened her eyes to look around.

The sun shone brightly through the canopy of leaves above her, and the cheerily chirping birds hidden amongst the branches that swayed idly in the warm breeze about her did little to help her throbbing headache.

Slowly sitting up, she took in a deep breath and tried to focus on what had happened. The events at the town hall meeting flashed through her mind, and she squinted as she recalled the blast of bright light before she awoke on a forest floor.

A forest floor?

She stood up quickly, accidently knocking a still groggy Henry back over in her haste. Turning in a full circle, she took in her surroundings, and then it hit her exactly where they were.

Eyes large, face full of anger and irritation, she said the first thing to come to her mind, not caring or mindful of the fact that Henry was within earshot.

"Crap."

* * *

Regina paced about her study as she tried to think of a plan. Emma's magic had clearly mixed with the Blue Fairy's magic and created a portal. The question was how to find out where the portal likely went. There were a few options before her.

She could consult with Gold, but that would mean owing him a favor, and she disliked the idea of owing him anything more than she already did. She could work with the Blue Fairy, but she was positive the only place that would lead was to a dead Blue Fairy. She could consult her books, but the type of magic Emma likely possessed wouldn't be in her books. Emma's magic was white magic. The magic Regina knew was dark. The two rarely worked well together. However, there was a possibility that a finding spell could work. She'd known of light and dark magic mixing together for such a spell, but she'd never seen it happen. It seemed like the best option, but that had problems as well, the least of which was finding a source for the white magic needed for the spell.

The brunette let out a frustrated groan. The longer she went without knowing where Henry and Emma were, the more likely something could happen to either of them, and she simply could not accept that.

Walking to her desk, she opened a small wooden box to look at the heart that resided in it. She caressed it and smirked knowing it would send a chill down Mary Margaret's body, a small reminder that her life was no longer her own to control. For too long, Snow White had been in seeming control of their situation, only losing it when Regina had implemented the curse. Now that it was broken, Snow thought she could take over again, but she was sorely mistaken.

This time, Regina would make certain she had the upper hand because  _this time_  she would not allow Snow White's interference to destroy what little life Regina had left.

With a flick of her wrist, she closed the box and walked over to her mirror, waving a hand in front of it. The surface shimmered and an image of Mother Superior appeared. She was talking to Gold as a small crowd listened and looked on. Regina cocked an eyebrow and listened in.

"What do you think is the most likely scenario, then?" The nun looked extremely worried.

"I don't know," Gold shrugged. "I would say it's safe to assume she'll do whatever she thinks she must to find Henry."

"Yes, but what about Mary Margaret?" David cut in, voice anxious.

"If you're asking me if she'll kill your wife," Gold said, waving his hand in the air with a flourish, "I can't answer that for you."

"You know her better than anyone else here," Leroy called out from the back of the crowd.

"There's got to be  _something_  you can do," David added.

"I'm afraid there's not, and, even if there were, why should I help you?" Gold raised his eyebrows in question.

"Rumple," Belle's voice was soft but firm. " _Can_  you help?"

"What would I do?" He scoffed. "I can't wave my hand and have Mary Margaret's heart magically appear, and I'm as lost as the rest of you as to where Emma and Henry are at this point."

Leroy pushed through to join the inner circle of people talking. "Great, if Gold can't help and Mother Superior doesn't know what's going on, what do we do? We can't just let Regina keep Mary Margaret's heart."

"Yes we can." All eyes turned to the petite brunette. Mary Margaret's face held a defeated look. "That's not important right now. What's important is finding Emma and Henry. We should be focusing on that. The fight between me and Regina is an old one, and it can be left on the back burner. It doesn't matter. What matters is making sure my daughter and grandson are safely back home."

"Mary Margaret," David's entire body vibrated with conflicting emotions, "Emma wouldn't want you to be in this kind of danger."

"David," her voice was losing patience, "we all know that, so long as Regina has my heart, she can control me. She'll know everything I know. At this point, I'm a liability, and, if she  _is_ trying to harm Emma or Henry," at this Regina rolled her eyes but continued to watch and listen, "then we need to get to them first."

"That doesn't make any sense," Ruby said, her voice slightly edgy. "Why would Regina want to hurt either Henry  _or_ Emma? From what I've seen, she's been trying to do better, and there's  _no way_ she'd hurt Henry."

"I don't believe she would hurt Emma either," Archie added. "To hurt one would be to hurt the other, and I don't feel Regina is likely to do anything that would cause any more emotional damage to Henry."

"I think Archie's right. Regina's been very trusting with Emma recently, and I think we all know how much Emma's been trying to help Regina," Belle said with a nod of her head. "I really don't think we need to worry about Regina harming either of them."

"Even if that's true," Mary Margaret responded in a clipped tone. "I don't believe we should take any chances. In fact," she turned to her husband, "you should probably put me in jail until the situation with my heart is resolved."

He gave an emphatic shake of his head. "We're not going to put you jail."

"You have to," she said in a stern voice. "You know that as long as she has my heart, I'm a weak link. I can't be trusted, David. You have to do what's best for the town. Take me to jail and don't believe a word I say until you find Emma and Henry and get my heart back."

"She's right," Leroy crossed his arms as others chimed in to show their support.

"Okay," David gave a resigned sigh. "But I don't like this, and…"

"I know you'll be with me when you're not busy trying to find our family," Mary Margaret finished for him. "I know you'll find them, just like you always find me." She gave him a gentle smile.

Regina rolled her eyes and groaned. "Disgusting," she muttered to herself as she waved her hand in front of the mirror to stop the stream of images and sound.

With Mary Margaret effectively out of the way and the town clamoring between what to do about her missing heart and how to find the sheriff and Henry, it left a door open for Regina. She might be able to find them before the town got to them and poisoned them with their lies, but it would take an extensive spell and require personal items from each person, which meant Regina was going to have to raid her guest room and Henry's room to find something that would work.

As she had already noted, she would also need a source of white magic. Dark magic alone might work, but it would be volatile, and she didn't want to risk harming Henry. She cursed at her own misfortunes. For the first time in her life, she needed an ally from the 'good' side, and, naturally, the only ally she had was one of the two people she was trying to find.

Stalking over to her desk, she grabbed the wooden box resting there and then headed upstairs to her guest room. The first thing she would do is put Mary Margaret's heart someplace for safe keeping, and then she would find the right items for Henry and Emma. She'd worry about a source for white magic later. This was going to be a process that required her to take things one step at a time.


	27. Chapter 27

Regina held the wooden box containing Mary Margaret's heart in her left hand as she opened her closet with her right. She would have put the heart with the others in her family's mausoleum, but that would both take too much time and be too obvious.

Instead, she plopped the box next to her various shoe boxes, amused that Snow White's heart was residing beside a designer pair of heels.

"Probably the closest to stylish she'll ever come," Regina mused to herself as she shut her closet door and headed to her next destination in her home.

* * *

"Ma?" Henry looked up from where he'd fallen back onto the mossy ground. "Where are we? What happened?"

Emma pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger as she took in a deep breath. "I don't know, Henry, but I have an idea." She groaned.

"Okay," he drew the word out as he stood up and brushed off the back of his clothing. "So where do you think we are?"

Letting her hand drop to her side, she took another look around them. Seeing where the thicket of trees gave way to a clearing, she started to head in that direction as she answered his question. "We're either somewhere in the woods around town, or," again she groaned, "we're in the Enchanted Forest."

Henry stopped walking and stared at her. "You think we're in the Enchanted Forest?" He voice was both hopeful and terrified.

"Maybe," she answered with a shrug. "The only way to find out is for us to look around." She glanced in the general direction of the sun. "If we're outside of town, then the town should be this way," she gestured in the appropriate direction. "If we're in the Enchanted Forest, then we need to start looking for a safe place to be before it gets dark. Ogres  _are not_  the friendliest guys to run into."

They began to walk again, staying in step with each other. Henry thought over what she'd told him and finally asked, "Why do you think we're in the Enchanted Forest?"

"Because my life sucks," she grumbled under her breath. A bit louder, she answered, "Because the Enchanted Forest gave me a really specific kind of feeling in my gut, and that's the feeling I have right now. I've never felt that in the woods around town or anywhere else for that matter, and whatever that bright light was that got us here was probably some kind of magic portal."

Stopping at the edge of the clearing, they looked out across the landscape. The only visible thing in the distance was what looked to be a building, possibly stables. Across the vast green landscape, there were a few fenced in areas, but mostly the land simply rolled out toward the horizon until it landed against a lush backdrop of more trees.

"Let's head toward whatever that is. If we're lucky, somebody there can tell us where we are," she said as they started the long walk.

"Ma," Henry's voice sounded small. "If we  _are_ in the Enchanted Forest, how do we get home?"

Emma's face grew grim but determined. "I don't know, but we'll figure it out," she said as she stared ahead.

* * *

Regina stepped into Henry's room and looked around at the familiar items she associated with her son. Inhaling deeply, she took in his familiar scent, and her eyes glossed over from the emotions the sensation elicited.

Shaking it off, she began to walk around the room looking for just the right item to use in her spell. Her eyes traveled over his bed with its rumpled covers, his desk with the piles of books and papers he never seemed to have organized, and then to his closet. She frowned. His closet was always the most disastrous area of his room, but it stood to reason the item she needed would most likely be in there.

Stepping to the closed closet door, she opened it with a tug and rolled her eyes at the messy piles and halfway hung clothing she saw. Her hand hovered above various items until she felt a pull from a small box tucked away on a shelf. Pulling it out and removing the lid, she smiled. It was Henry's Hulk action figure he'd wanted for Christmas three Christmases past.

He'd taken it everywhere with him when he first received it, even sleeping and bathing with it. When it was time for a meal, Henry insisted Hulk had a place setting, too, and, when it was time to be tucked in, Hulk had to be tucked in, too. It had taken almost a year for him to become un-enamored with the toy, but, when Henry felt scared or sick, Hulk would reappear next to him in his bed or at the dining table.

It made sense that this toy would have the strongest connection to him. It was the equivalent of a security blanket.

Carefully lifting the action figure from the precious bed in the box in which he resided, she held it gently in her hand as she returned the box and headed to the guest room.

* * *

By the time Emma and Henry arrived at the building, the sun was beginning to set. She was wary, and Henry was clearly scared but trying not to show it.

Pulling in her last reserves of energy, she stepped inside what was, in fact, stables and called out.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" She held her breath and reached out to place a hand on Henry's shoulder.

"Hello?" A male voice called out from somewhere. "Who are you?"

They turned to see a stunning looking young man dressed in what was, without question, clothing straight from a fairytale book. His short, thick, dark hair had a few pieces of straw stuck in it, and his bright blue eyes shown with curiosity and warmth.

She gave her best smile. "Hi there."

Henry gulped and whispered to his mother, "Emma," he breathed, "Emma, that's Daniel." The blood drained from his face and his breathing quickened.

She glanced down at him. " _What_?"

His eyes grew wider. "That's… that's  _Daniel_ , Mom's…"

Emma clapped a hand over Henry's mouth and gave the man in front of her an apologetic look. In turn, the young man gave them both a curious look. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Uh," the blonde gulped air, "No." She slowly slid her hand away from Henry's face but kept a tight grip on the boy's shoulder. "No, I don't think so. We, uh, we got lost in the… the forest back there." She pointed vaguely back behind her. "We were hoping to find a place to sleep tonight before we found our way back home."

"Oh," the man gave them a sympathetic look. "Those woods can be very dangerous, especially at night. Where do you come from? Perhaps I can help you get home? I could ask the mistress for the day off tomorrow after I give her daughter a riding lesson. If you don't mind waiting in the stables until then, I'd be more than happy to escort you."

"Uh," Emma panicked. "That's really nice of you, but we only need a place to sleep tonight."

"Well you can stay here. I'll happily share my place in the loft with you." His smile remained warm. "I'm Daniel."

"See?" Henry whispered. "I  _told_ you."

She nudged her son to keep him quiet. "I'm Emma and this is my son, Henry." She gave an awkward wave. "It's nice to meet you."

Daniel nodded. "And the same to you. Have you eaten yet?"

"I'm starving," Henry answered loudly.

Daniel chuckled. "Well then, let's get you fed." He motioned toward a ladder that led up to the second story of the stables. "I don't have much, but I'm happy to share it."

"Thanks," Emma said quietly as she passed by him and followed Henry up to the stables' loft.

* * *

Regina carefully placed Henry's action figure on the dresser in the guest bedroom and glanced around. The rumpled bed and messy area where Emma's suitcase was placed made her smirk. Clearly, being unorganized was a hereditary trait.

She began the same search she had done in Henry's room but stopped short when her eyes fell upon a very familiar leather jacket. Despite herself, Regina felt a prickling in her eyes. It was ridiculous, of course, to be so emotional. Emma Swan really meant nothing to her, but she was with Henry, and they had to return together because Henry would be devastated if Emma didn't come home with him.

She had to bring Emma back for Henry's sake. That much was clear. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she went straight to the red leather jacket that was haphazardly tossed across the chair in the room. She grasped it between two fingers and held it up to get a good look at it. Her mind ran over the first few days Emma Swan had been in Storybrooke and the beginning of their interactions together. As she held the jacket, Regina's body hummed with the same energy that had shot through her when she located Henry's action figure.

Idly, she wondered how long Emma had owned the jacket and why it was so important to her, but the answers didn't really matter. What mattered was that it was something important to the sheriff, which meant it would work for the spell.

Laying the jacket over her arm, she walked out of the room, making sure to pluck the Hulk up from his resting place on the dresser.

The hour was late, and she needed to rest before she attempted to do anything more. Taking the items to her bedroom, she carefully laid the red leather jacket down across her chaise and then placed the action figure on top of it so that it nestled within the collar of the garment.

She looked down at the items and wiped at her eyes. She only had one chance to find them, and, if she didn't, they might be lost forever. Just once, she thought, it would be nice if something worked in her favor.


	28. Chapter 28

"So where are you from?" Daniel smiled gently as he handed a piece of bread and a bit of cheese to his two guests. "Your clothing is nothing that I recognize. Is it a new modern fashion of some sort?"

"You could say that," Emma mumbled around her bite of bread before answering, "We're from a town called Storybrooke in a place that's," she winced as she looked at Henry, who was watching her closely, "pretty far away from here."

Daniel tilted his head in consideration of her answer. "A different land?"

"Yeah," the blonde nodded. "Like somewhere in the North."

"Oh, the North Country," he leaned back into his stack of hay and nodded. "I've heard it's a bit different there. I've never been, but I'd like to go one day." His eyes began to cloud over with a faraway look as he spoke. "I sometimes dream of living there on a small farm of my own where I could breed horses and teach my children how to ride." His smile was a touch sad.

"Your children?" Henry finally spoke up again. "Do you have kids?"

"Oh," Daniel's eyes refocused and he blushed. "No, no I don't have any children yet, but I hope to someday." He ducked his head slightly. "Of course, I'd have to be married first."

Emma grunted. "Of course." Clearing her throat and shifting a bit, she looked around the loft. It was dark but warm and held firmly against the wind they could hear howling outside. Her eyes wandered for a moment before falling to a small pair of leather gloves resting not far from them. Nodding toward them, she commented, "But you have a girlfriend."

Daniel's eyes grew wide as his head jerked around to find what she was nodding toward. "I… those belong to the daughter of the people who own this land. I give her riding lessons at least once a week. The last time she was here, she forgot to bring them back with her once her lesson was over. I'm keeping them until she returns tomorrow for her next lesson so she will have them."

"Right," Emma's tone said she didn't fully believe him.

"What's her name?" Henry's eyes narrowed, and he ignored his mother's warning look.

The stableboy's eyes brightened. "Regina."

"Is she nice?" Henry asked. He was reclined but tense, and, though his question sounded innocent, Emma knew he was looking for an answer to a question about the woman who raised him that neither would have ever been able to ask Regina directly.

"Oh yes," Daniel nodded enthusiastically. "She's a very gentle soul, very caring." He smiled, and his eyes shown with strong affection while he spoke. "I very much enjoy her presence when she's here. She treats me very well, as she does all the servants who live and work here."

A shadow of disbelief passed across the young boy's face. "Does she have any kids?"

"No!" Daniel was clearly offended at the very idea. "Of course not. Regina isn't married. She's the purest woman I have ever known. She would never," he stopped, coming to his senses before he could elaborate more and cause possible offense to the sensibilities of either the mother or child before him. He frowned, internalizing some comment that he clearly would like to have said but perhaps could not. "Though, I think Regina would make a wonderful mother. She has a large heart." He smiled again, but it was a touch melancholy. "I think any man who would be lucky enough to call her his wife would be blessed with a loving home full of happy children."

Both of his guests grunted. "Yeah," Emma drew the word out as she looked to her son, who only sat quietly with a look she couldn't decipher etched into his features. "I'm sure she's great."

"She is." Daniel stood, walking over to the wall to pull out blankets. "Perhaps you'll be able to meet her tomorrow? I think you would like her if you were to meet her."

"We'll think about it," Emma responded as she took the offered blankets and nudged Henry to follow her to a place in the hay to sleep.

As they settled in for the night, Henry whispered as quietly as he could to his mother, "I don't know if I can do this."

She replied just as quietly, "Neither do I."

* * *

David paced the small sheriff's office, avoiding the space occupied by a seated Gold and a standing Mother Superior. Leroy and Archie tried to avoid the deputy as best they could, stepping out of his path when he came closer to them. From behind the cell bars, Mary Margaret watched him and tried not to show her irritation with their current meeting.

"David," she said, her voice terse. "Go talk about this somewhere else. Call Ruby in here. Get her to watch me."

"We're not saying anything that could give us away," he answered with an air of irritation.

"I'm not saying anything at all," Gold threw in. "In fact, I don't know what I'm doing here. She's the one you need to talk to. I can't help you." He motioned with his cane toward the nun.

"I honestly don't know what to do." Mother Superior's face was full of tension. "I've never encountered nor heard of anything like this happening before."

"We should be trying to get Mary Margaret's heart back," Leroy growled. "Who knows how long it'll take before Regina decides to do something with it?"

"I think it might be wise to try to talk to Regina again without Mary Margaret present," Archie added. "She might be more receptive, and, if we had her assistance, we might be able to locate Emma and Henry faster."

"I'm not working with that witch," Leroy practically shouted. "We should take her out. That would fix a lot issues in this town."

"And get you no closer to knowing where Ms. Blanchard's heart his nor how to find your people," Gold cut in. Rolling his eyes, he pushed up from his seat. "I'm leaving."

"You can't just leave," David stopped pacing. "We need you here to help us figure out a plan. You know Regina the best, and you understand magic better than anyone in this town."

Gold shrugged. "I have nothing to offer you in this situation, and I've made a deal that prevents me from interfering. But, should you need my services for something else, you know where to find me." Giving a little wave of his hand, he turned and walked out of the station, leaving the rest on their own.

Leroy punched a nearby filing cabinet. "Crap."

"It's getting late." Mary Margaret's voice was tired. "Why don't we try to get some rest, and all of you can meet tomorrow somewhere that I'm not and work out a plan?"

"That might be best," Archie nodded. "We can meet at the diner tomorrow morning."

Agreeing, they dispersed leaving the husband and wife alone in the jail.

"David," her patience for her husband had returned. "Try to get some sleep."

"How can I sleep when my family is in trouble?" He sighed as he sat down in his chair.

"You'll find them, and you'll find my heart. I have faith." She gave him her best reassuring smile.

He groaned. "I hope you're right."


	29. Chapter 29

The smell of coffee emanating from her French press did little to settle Regina's frazzled nerves. The dream she'd had the night before was one of the most unsettling she'd ever experienced, and it wasn't because it was violent or frightening. It was because it felt far less like a dream and much more like she was reliving a memory.

She had dreamt of Daniel and a riding lesson, which would have been a wonderful dream had it not been for the fact that Emma Swan and Henry had been there as well. In the dream, they had interacted. She had not known who they were, and they had seemed uncomfortable in her presence.

Shivering, she recalled with clarity how confused she had felt at their obvious discomfort around her and how curious she had thought their clothing to be. Daniel's reassurances that they were nice people who were only there because they had been lost in the woods had done little to make her dream self feel at ease with the strangers. However, she had been warm toward them, and she recalled how gentle she was with Henry in particular in the dream.

With a wince, she wondered why she had never taken Henry to the stables in town as her mind replayed the riding lesson from the dream. Henry had seemed so excited about the horses.

To make matters more confounding, the dream was based on an event that had actually happened to Regina when she was young girl. She recalled it distinctly because she had fallen off of her horse during her ride, and she had twisted her ankle. Daniel had to fetch a healer to tend to her wound, and her mother had been furious with her for being so clumsy.

But now, instead of recalling a healer looking at her injury, her mind was inserting Emma Swan. The whole situation was very odd, and she was having difficulty processing it.

Shaking her head, she poured her coffee and sipped it as she looked over her morning paper. This morning, the headline read, "The Evil Queen Takes Snow White's Heart." She smirked. "I think today I'll take something else of Snow White's, too." She finished her coffee while she read the paper, letting her subconscious wrangle with her dream and the other issues that were currently pressing down on her.

* * *

"There she is." Daniel breathed out as if he were saying a small blessing, "That's Regina."

Emma's eyes found the place the young man was looking, and she took in a deep breath of surprise. " _That's_ Regina?" Her voice sounded slightly strangled.

"Yes, that's her," he nodded.

Henry gawked. "She looks so young."

"And light," Emma added.

Daniel turned to give them a quick look. "Do you two always make such odd comments?"

"Yeah," the blonde nodded. "It's a thing we do."

The stableboy said nothing. Instead, he hurried to meet up with the young brunette who had finally reached the entrance to the stables. Emma and Henry watched from where they stood further in as he gestured towards them and spoke earnestly to the young woman, who looked truly concerned as they began to walk toward them.

"Remember, kid," Emma whispered down to her son. "Don't call her Mom. She doesn't know us."

"This is so weird," Henry bemoaned just before the other two came within earshot.

"This," Daniel gestured to the blonde, "is Emma and her son Henry."

"Hi," Emma waved.

"Hello," Henry gave a little wave of his own.

"Hello," the young woman smiled gently, brown eyes soft and warm. "I'm Regina. Daniel tells me you were lost in the woods. Are you alright?"

The mother and son were taken aback by the honest concern in the young woman's voice. "Yeah, we're fine," Emma finally answered. "It's just… uh, you know, when it gets dark sometimes it's hard to find your way out of places." She shrugged. "The kid and I should be fine now. In fact, we were just about to head out."

"Alone?" Regina's voice went up a tick. "Oh, but you mustn't go alone. It's still very dangerous out there." She glanced to Daniel. "You should go with them."

"But what of your riding lesson?" He looked overly concerned. "I offered to escort them after your lesson, and," he hesitated, clearly not wanting to say too much in front of the strangers. "Your mother…" he allowed his voice to trail off.

The young woman's posture straightened. "You're right." She nodded, giving him a meaningful look before turning back to their guests. "Would you mind waiting until after my lesson is over? It won't be very long, and I really think you should wait and allow Daniel to accompany you. It's far too dangerous for a woman and child to walk these roads alone."

Emma's eyes flared. "I can handle…"

Henry touched her on the hand as he smiled up at the younger version of his mom. "Can we watch you ride?"

Both woman stared down at him with equally surprised looks. Regina looked from the young boy to his mother, whom she asked, "Do you not have a horse?"

"Uh, no," Emma shook her head, trying to look appropriately ashamed. "We're not… we don't…"

"We can't afford a horse," Henry answered honestly.

Emma gasped. "Henry!"

"It's alright," Regina soothed. "I realize not everyone has the luxury." She squatted to be eye level with the young boy. "Of course you can watch, and, perhaps, if your mother will allow it, you can ride for a bit with me. Would you like that?"

Henry's eyes danced. He glanced up to Emma. "Can I?"

The sheriff inwardly groaned. Things were getting more complicated by the moment. "Yeah, sure, just don't fall off or anything."

"I promise I'll protect him as if he were my own," Regina answered with a smile. "You have nothing to worry about."

"It's true," Daniel assured as he guided a horse to them. "Regina is the best rider I've ever seen. Henry will be safe."

"Okay." Emma nodded and watched Regina easily climb upon the horse and reach down to pull Henry up, setting him in front of her on the saddle.

"Okay, Henry," Regina reached down and took the reins from Daniel. Holding them in her hands and making certain the young boy was safely nestled between her arms, she gave the horse a gentle squeeze with her knees to get him started at a slow walk. "Hold on, and, if you feel sacred, tell me. I promise we won't go too fast."

Henry nodded and leaned back as the horse began to trot.

* * *

"You're doing very well, Henry," Regina said in a cheerful voice as the two rode around the large, open field. "Are you sure you've never done this before?"

"Nope," he said with a laugh. "But this is fun! I wonder why we've never done with before?"

"I'm sure your mother would if she could," she replied in a gentle manner. Trying to keep the conversation upbeat, Regina added, "I like your name. My father's name is Henry."

Turning in the saddle to look at the young woman, Henry exclaimed, "It is?" The surprise in his voice mirrored the look on his face, which quickly morphed into panic as he lost his balance and began to fall from his perch.

Regina acted quickly, stopping the horse with one hand while she caught the boy with the other. Half in and half out of the saddle, she had to throw her leg over the horse to catch the boy and prevent him from hitting the ground. In the midst of her move, her foot caught in the stirrup, and her ankle twisted at a harsh angle as she hit the ground with Henry safely tucked into her arms.

"Oh my God," Emma gasped as she took off at a run to reach the two with Daniel at her heels. They reached the two on the ground quickly, and found them giggling.

"I'm okay, Ma," Henry said. Carefully standing up, he looked down at the woman still on the ground. "I think she's hurt."

"Just my ankle," Regina answered, a smile still on her face. "I may not be able to ride for a few days, but I think I'll be fine." She tried to stand, winced, and almost fell.

Daniel caught her by the arm and steadied her. "Perhaps I should go for help? The healer isn't far."

Regina shook her head. "I'd rather you didn't. I'll be fine, Daniel."

"Maybe I could look at it?" Emma offered while she stepped to Regina's other side to offer support. "I bet it's just twisted. If you have a long strip of cloth, I could wrap it for you."

"You're a healer?" Regina looked over to the blonde and raised an eyebrow in question.

"No," Emma drew the word out so she could think. "But I get hurt a lot, and I had to learn to take care of some of the stuff myself." She shrugged.

Regina nodded. "Well, if you don't mind…"

Emma looked at Henry and gave him a hard look before glancing back to the young brunette. "Yeah, it's not a problem. But, after that, the kid and I really need to get going."

Giving a grateful smile, Regina nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

Placing the paper in the recycling bin and washing her cup out in the sink, Regina sighed. The dream was still nagging at her. She could practically feel the wrap Emma Swan had placed on her ankle after the fall she took to protect Henry from getting hurt.

She paused.

That was not a dream. Realization struck, or perhaps the coffee had finally kicked in.

Emma Swan and her son weren't in a dream she'd had. They were in her past.

Horrified, she quickly rushed to her library to begin pulling reference books that had anything to do with time travel and portals. She needed to get the two of them back, and she needed to do it quickly. If they were in the Enchanted Forest with a young Regina, that meant they were there with Cora. They were in danger, and the longer they stayed where they were, the higher the risk that something could happen.

She grunted as she flipped through books. If they were in her past, then that meant their presence risked altering things. That could end just as badly as if Cora found them. There were too many variables at work. She needed to act quickly, and now she needed to take more from Snow White than her heart.

She needed her memories. She had to see where, exactly, Henry and Emma were in their past, and, to do that, she needed to make a few comparisons.

Regina frowned. A visit this morning to the jail was clearly in order.


	30. Chapter 30

The sound of heels clicking across the hard, cement floor of the sheriff's office caught Ruby's attention, and she looked up from her harlequin romance novel in time to see Regina Mills stop in front of the desk she was occupying.

Dropping a small bag on the desk and placing a cup down next to it, Regina said with a haughtiness to her tone, "I would have brought a steak to distract you, but I thought bacon would be a better choice. Now, why don't you do yourself a favor and  _stay_ while I speak with your prisoner?"

"I was never very good at being trained," Ruby retorted.

"Nor being housebroken, I would imagine," Regina responded in turn.

Ruby rolled her eyes as she pulled the bag and cup toward her and gave them both a sniff. "Bacon, egg, and cheese muffin and French vanilla coffee?"

Regina looked down her nose at the younger woman. "I do pay attention, dear. Isn't that what you normally order for breakfast when you're not working the morning shift?"

Ruby frowned and gave a little affirmative nod as she pushed them away. "You know this won't work. You can't distract me so you can be alone with Mary Margaret."

"You know I could kill you with a motion of my hand," Regina countered coolly.

"But you won't," Ruby said in a calm voice. Standing, she glanced over to the prisoner, who was quietly watching the exchange. "You're not here to kill anyone."

"What makes you so sure?" The former mayor narrowed her eyes. "You're all too aware of what I'm capable of."

"Because Mary Margaret would already be dead, and you wouldn't be trying to bribe me with my favorite breakfast order." The waitress turned acting deputy said with a sliver of humor in her voice, "Why are you here, Regina?"

"You're very confident, Ms. Lucas." The other woman took in a deep breath and let it out in a huff. "But you're right. I have no desire to hurt you, though I will if you stand in my way."

The younger brunette stood and walked toward the cell, and Regina followed behind her. Ruby stopped at the bars and turned to lean against them, crossing her arms in front of her as she regarded her visitor. "If you're going to talk to Mary Margaret, then I'm going to be here to watch you."

"This is ridiculous," Regina groaned as she came to a stop nearby and her eyes fell on Mary Margaret where she sat on the only bed in the cell. "I could send you away to the other side of town right now, and there's not a thing you could do about it."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You could also do the same thing with Mary Margaret. I'm not fooling myself. I know I can't stop you if you really want to get to her. But I have to do my duty, and I'm going to stay right here while you two speak."

"I don't want her out of this cell," Regina hissed, and then quickly closed her mouth when she realized she'd said more than she meant to. Pulling her mask of self-control back on, she added, "Ms. Blanchard is exactly where I want her to be."

"Yeah, I kind of figured," Ruby said with a shrug. "You know I don't think you were doing anything hinky with Emma, don't you? I'm not going to say that I'm on your side but…"

"Yes, I'm aware of what you think," the other woman cut in. She finally looked over to the acting deputy and her eyes held a hint of respect for her. "It's important that I find them as quickly as possible."

"I know," Ruby nodded. "And I get it. A few us do, but I'm not leaving the room," Ruby said as she pushed off the bars. Turning to her prisoner, she added, "But I am going to let her talk to you. I'll be right there," she pointed at the desk she had just left.

Mary Margaret gave a small nod of understanding and stood to walk to where Regina stood. With nothing but the steel bars between them, it was a stark reminder of another time when they had been in this exact physical position.

In a cold and detached voice, Mary Margaret asked, "What do you want, Regina?"

* * *

"That should do it." Emma grunted as she stood from where she knelt on the ground to wrap Regina's ankle. "It's twisted pretty bad. You should probably keep it propped up for a couple of days, and, you know, try to stay off of it as much as you can." She shrugged.

"Thank you for your help," the younger woman said with a gracious smile. "My mother is away for a few days on business," she began. Her voice held an edge of anxiousness as she mentioned her mother. "So she cannot give Daniel permission to escort you. However," she looked at the stable boy, "I will do so in her absence."

Emma watched the unspoken exchanged, understanding quickly that there was clearly some sort of risk involved in Regina making the offer she just had. "No, that's okay." The blonde waved her hand in the air to brush aside the offer. "Henry and I will be fine, thanks."

"Let me at least thank you for your help," Regina said with a glance to her wrapped foot. "Let me have the cook wrap a bundle for you?" Her eyes pleaded. "It's the least I can do, and you…" Her voice trailed off as her dark brown eyes fell upon Emma's shirt. "You are favored of the Queen?" Regina's voice was full of surprise and admiration.

"What?" Emma's own eyes grew wide with confusion. She tried to follow Regina's line of sight, and she realized the other woman was looking at the pin on her shirt. "Oh, I, uh…"

"They were a gift," Henry stepped in, "from my grandmother who said they'd been in our family for a really long time." He pointed to his own pin.

Regina gave a slow blink. "Oh, I see. As a favored family of the Queen, we are obliged to help you in any way that we can." Her eyes brightened. "In fact, it would be highly frowned upon for us to  _not_ ensure your safety. The Queen would be very displeased if she found out we hadn't sent an escort with you back to your home."

"Of course she would be," Emma grumbled. "Look, we'll just keep it between ourselves, okay? No one ever has to know that we were here, and the Queen won't get mad if she doesn't know."

The young brunette raised an eyebrow in a way that so much looked like her older self that it left Emma feeling weak in the knees at the memory. "You want me to lie to the Queen?"

Trying to shake the feeling at the memory, Emma cleared her throat. Where had that come from? "No, I just don't think it's going to come up, so you don't have anything to worry about."

Daniel reached down to offer his hand for Regina to use as she stood. He glanced over to his guests and gave an almost apologetic smile to them. "I think you'll find that Regina is very good at getting what she wants when she puts her mind to it." He glanced to the woman on his arm. "It's one of the many unique things about her."

"Oh, I think I know what she's capable of," Emma responded with a roll of her eyes.

Henry's stomach took the chance to make itself known in the silence that followed, and Regina's eyes danced with the victory she knew that sound had just secured. "You two can have lunch with me while the cook makes a bundle for you to take on your journey." The young woman grinned, eyes shining with her winning moment. "I insist."

"Fine." The blonde tried to hold her irritation and frustration at bay. She and Henry began to follow the other two toward a larger structure in the distance. Even as a younger version of herself, Regina was infuriatingly good at getting Emma to do whatever she wanted. It was endearing but frustrating. The thought stopped the sheriff in her tracks. How long had she been okay with that fact?

"Ma?" Henry tugged at her shirt sleeve. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, kid, everything's just  _great_ ," she answered in the most sarcastic tone she could muster. Her son frowned and turned to start walking again as his stomach gave another growl.

* * *

"Regina?" This time, Mary Margaret's voice was less cold and more alarmed. Despite herself, she was suddenly concerned for the abrupt stillness and quietness of the woman on the other side of the cell door. Regina had gone from fully present and extremely guarded to suddenly mentally away and completely unguarded.

The older woman blinked rapidly a few times and shook her head to clear it. "What the hell?" She mumbled mostly to herself. Her gaze dropped down, and she seemed to be mentally composing herself. "It's still happening," she said in a somewhat pained and confused voice.

Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes. "What is?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Regina shot back as she pulled her head back up to meet the other woman's eyes. "Tell me everything you can remember from the months prior to our first meeting."

"Why should I?" Mary Margaret's voice was defensive. "Why do you want to know?"

"Tell me or suffer the consequences," the other woman threatened in a low, raspy voice.

"Like what, exactly?" The pixie haired brunette crossed her arms and gave a smug look. "You're going to take my heart?"

"I could just kill you," Regina answered in a nonchalant tone.

Mary Margaret shrugged. "But then you wouldn't get the information you want."

Regina tilted her head to the side and gave a smirk. "You're right, but I don't have time for these games. I'll be back, and you'll tell me everything that you know." She disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

"Why not just tell her?" Ruby asked after the smoke cleared out.

"Because this has something to do with Emma and Henry, and I'm not about to willingly help her find them before we can," Mary Margaret answered before plopping back down on the bed in her cell.

The deputy finished up the last of her coffee and threw everything away in the can underneath her desk. "You're still stuck on the idea that she's trying to hurt them?"

"How can you think otherwise, Ruby? I can't believe you're even entertaining the idea that Regina is trying to save them. She hasn't changed. I think she's proven that, don't you? She  _has my heart_."

Ruby gave the other woman a long, considerate look. "We've been friends for a long time, Mary Margaret. You've seen me at my very poorest, and you know how many people I've hurt or worse." She held up a hand to stop the other woman from talking. "And I know what kind of person you are. You have a good heart and good intentions. But what I saw you do today to Henry and Emma was not the person I know. That was manipulative, and it was deceitful. I think Regina was honestly trying to change, and I think Emma and Henry were helping her with that. I don't understand why you wouldn't want to be supportive of that. I would think that you, of all people, would want peace in this town. If you could support me knowing all the horrible things I've done, why not try to do the same thing for Regina?"

"This is different," the petite woman countered. "You're not an evil person, Ruby. You couldn't help what you did, and, once you could control yourself, you didn't choose to go out and hurt or murder people. You certainly weren't trying to control my daughter or my grandson."

Ruby pursed her lips in thought. "Is that the only concern you have?"

Mary Margaret tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I think you know," the deputy answered. "We can't help who we…"

"Don't," Mary Margaret quickly cut in. "I won't even hear that remark. Regina is Emma's step grandmother."

Ruby's eyebrows went up, and her face clearly said she thought the other woman was being naïve, "I really don't think Regina considers you her daughter."

"I'm not having this conversation," Mary Margaret said as she turned toward the wall to stare at it.

"Don't have the conversation," the other woman said, sarcasm lacing her words, "but not talking about won't change it."

The sheriff's office fell into a tense, uneasy silence, and Ruby gave her friend a look of pity before turning back to her book.


	31. Chapter 31

Regina giggled, "That's very clever of you." She motioned for a nearby servant to come to the table. "I must say, I've never considered the thought of adding cinnamon to any drink, let alone my hot chocolate. Of course, it's so rare that we have either, I'm not sure we've had the luxury of having both at the same time. But, should the opportunity present itself, I think I shall give it a try."

Emma glanced over to Henry, who was watching the young Regina with a look somewhere between curiosity and disbelief. Turning her eyes back to the young brunette, she shrugged. "When I can, I do it. A lot of people think it's weird, but I like it."

"It seems as though it would be an unusual combination," Regina agreed with a bright smile on her face. Turning to the servant, she asked them to check on the bundle the kitchen staff was to be preparing for her guests before she turned back to them. "Are you certain you won't allow Daniel to accompany you back to your home, Miss Swan?"

"Emma," the blonde correct in a hesitant voice. She'd had this conversation with Regina before. Well, not  _this_ Regina, but still. "You can call me Emma. I'm good with that."

"Alright," the younger woman nodded. "Emma then, and you both must call me Regina. But I would feel so much better regarding yours and young Henry's safety if you had an escort."

The sheriff gave a slow blink as she tried to control the little shiver that seemed to run through her when her first name left the other woman's lips without so much as a harsh thought behind it. She cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm sure. We'll be okay, right kid?" She looked over to Henry who had tilted his head to the side while he watched the two older people talk.

Scrunching his face up in thought, he asked in a voice that sounded much younger than his age, "Regina, what's your favorite color?"

The question was so disjointed from the rest of the conversation that both woman simply sat and stared at him for a long moment. Finally giving a gracious smile, Regina answered in an amused voice, "Blue, why do you ask?"

"I thought it would be red," Henry said more to himself than the woman he was addressing.

"Red is lovely, of course, but I've always preferred blue, like the color of Daniel's eyes." Her own eyes grew large, and she blushed at the slip up of information. "As one example, of course," she added in a rush. She glanced to Emma, who only raised an eyebrow and gave a small smirk in response.

The young boy frowned, eyebrows lowering as he thought. "Do you have a favorite fruit?"

Regina gave a curious glance toward Emma, who only shrugged and looked as confused as they both felt. "No," the brunette answered, but it was clear she was giving the question thought. "Though I do like cherries when we're able to get them, and I like apples. What's your favorite fruit?" She obviously thought the young boy was playing some kind of game, and she was happy to play along.

Emma suspected it was something else entirely, and, though she couldn't read her son's mind, she could read his body language. It screamed a need, a pressing desire, to know this Regina before they left, and she couldn't blame him. This Regina was so much like their Regina yet so different. She was open, light hearted, and caring in a way the Regina she knew never was, and, in seeing this younger version of the former evil queen turned mayor, she found herself just as curious as her son to know this woman, the young woman that was before everything went to hell.

"I liked apples for a long time," he answered honestly. "But then something happened, and I stopped liking them, but, I mean, I still kind of like them."

Regina's face dropped into a concerned look. "Oh well, maybe whatever happened will eventually be forgotten, and you can enjoy eating them again?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. I still eat them, but they remind me of," Henry abruptly stopped and glanced to Emma. Frowning, he finished the sentence slowly, "someone that a lot of people don't like." He sighed at Regina's empathetic look. "What's your favorite thing to do when you don't have to do something?"

"Well," Regina gave him a questioning look, "I like to read. I'm very fond of poetry, and I like to ride my horse. I enjoy riding very much, and I also like to bake, though Mother frowns on me spending too much time in the kitchen with the servants. What do you like to do, Henry?"

Her question was genuine, and he seemed surprised by that. "I like to spend time with Mom when she isn't too busy or mad about something. Sometimes, she would play board games with me or we'd go on a picnic. I liked those times."

Emma's face dropped, and she gave her son a look that said she both didn't know and was sorry for what Henry had lost since she'd arrived in town.

Regina looked to the blonde, and her smile grew a touch. "It's good that you spend time with each other in that way."

"I… yeah…" Emma shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "I should probably try harder to make sure the kid gets to do that kind of thing more often," she commented as she looked at her son, who only frowned at some memory that he had never shared with her. Sighing heavily, she glanced back to her hostess and asked a question of her own that she had always wanted to know about the brunette. "Since we're playing twenty questions," she gave a small, reassuring smile, "What makes you happy, Regina? When you're having a really bad day, what makes you smile?"

"Spending time with the one that I love," came the answer just as easily and simply as any. "Isn't that what makes anyone's day that much better?"

Emma nodded. "Love is a strength like that."

"I've always thought it was," Regina answered with an approving nod of her head. "To be yourself and be loved and be able to love in return is something that I think is one of life's greatest gifts."

"Love is its own kind of power," the sheriff added.

Before Regina could respond, her servant arrived carrying two bundles, which were set quietly on the table before the servant took their leave. Regina thanked them, and said with a somewhat sadder expression on her face, "I suppose this means you'll leave soon?"

Henry stood and walked over to the young hostess. He stared at her for a brief moment, blushing slightly. "Regina," he glanced at the floor, trying hard to ask the question sitting on his lips, "Can I hug you?"

At the questioning look from the younger woman, Emma gave a nod of her head to indicate she was fine with it, so Regina gracefully stood and knelt down beside the boy. "Of course," she said with a warm smile and soft look in her eye.

Lunging forward, Henry wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. She returned the hug, giving him a more gentle squeeze and patiently waited until the young boy let go. When he pulled back, there were tears in his eyes, and he wiped at them as best he could. "I'm going to miss you." His voice was heavy with sadness.

"Oh, don't cry," Regina said in an assuring voice. "Now that we know each other, you and your mother are always welcome here as my guests." She glanced up to the blonde who still sat in her chair watching the scene unfold. "You can always find me."

Emma winced a little at those words. "We'll always know to look, anyway," she said as she stood and picked the bundles up. "Thank you for your hospitality, but we really should get going." Henry stepped away and allowed enough room for Emma to approach Regina. "I hope your ankle heels up fast."

"I think it'll be okay," Regina answered while she stood. There was an awkward moment before she added, "I don't know why, Emma, but I feel compelled to hug you goodbye, too. Isn't it strange? It feels as though we've known each other for so long."

"The world is weird," the blonde answered. A grunt escaped her as Regina limped forward and wrapped her in a hug. For a moment, she resisted the embrace, but she gave in eventually and returned it. Despite herself, she relaxed into the grip, and she felt a void when Regina pulled away, their eyes meeting for a brief moment before Emma broke the gaze off to look anywhere but the brown eyes now carefully watching her. "I, uh, I think we should go now. Thanks again, Regina. I appreciate everything you've ever done for Henry."

Before Regina could correct Emma's odd word choice, both mother and son were headed from the room and out of her presence.

* * *

Regina sat at her kitchen island and swirled her drink. The cinnamon floated lightly atop the light brown liquid, and she stared into it as her mind recollected. "This has to stop," she muttered to herself before finishing her hot chocolate. "She's changing my past."

Rinsing the mug out, she left it in the sink and stalked toward her study while her mind pieced together the memory that had just flashed through it.

_"I appreciate everything you've ever done for Henry."_

Emma's words rolled around in her mind while she flipped through and found the spell that should lead her to the pair, assuming she could find someone with light magic to assist her. It was clear Emma was talking directly to her as she is now and not to the younger version of herself that she was interacting with at the time.

The brunette gave a humph. Her younger self had felt so confused by the visitors, yet she recalled also feeling a connection with them. The whole thing had been odd, but she hadn't had time to focus too much on it. Her mother had come home the very next day, and there was much to pay for from her accidental fall from her horse.

She sat at her desk and allowed her mind to replay the newest changed memory from her past, and she shivered as she again recalled the embrace she had shared with Emma prior to her leaving. Regina's skin twitched, and her emotions swam in an unchecked swath of confused feelings. Did she hate the fact Emma Swan had touched her, or was she hoping to have it happen again?

She wasn't certain.

It didn't matter. What mattered was bringing both Ms. Swan and Henry back. Now that she had the spell, the items, and an idea of where and when they were, she was halfway to her goal. She just needed access to light magic. There were only a few people who could help her, and one was sitting in a jail cell.

No matter, Regina thought with a smirk. She stood and strolled upstairs to recover the heart sitting next to her designer shoes. There was more than one way to get what she needed.

* * *

"I can find it," David said as he pounded the top of the counter, causing spoons to shake in the coffee mugs in which they rested. "I'll always be able to find her, which means I can find her heart."

The group was seated at Granny's Diner, and the early morning sunlight fell through the diner's dirty windows to give a brightness to the room that wasn't warranted for the mood. There were a few murmurs and a few grunts that said they didn't think David's claim was likely.

"I think it's in her house," he continued, ignoring them all. He looked around him and his eyes pleaded with the gathered mass. "We can't save Emma and Henry while Mary Margaret's life is in danger. We need to save her first so we can focus on getting my daughter and grandson back."

"I still think we should attempt to talk to Regina before we use force," Archie spoke up, over the crowd. "It only stands to reason that anything she would see as a forceful attack on her could lead to more violence, which isn't in anyone's best interest."

"I still say we should burn the witch," Leroy shouted. "She's dangerous. We could take her out, search her house, get Mary Margaret's heart, and find Emma and Henry."

"No, I don't want to do that," David's voice was tired. "There was a time when I would have agreed with you, Leroy, but I don't think killing Regina is the answer."

"Glad to hear it, Deputy," Regina's voice cut through the crowd, and the room fell silent. "Don't mind me. I'm only here to place a to-go order. Please, continue on. I won't stop you. Just act as if I'm not here."

Leroy growled. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"Getting food, or is my money not welcomed here anymore?" She raised an eyebrow in question to Granny, who stood behind the counter.

The old woman glowered for a long moment before she finally asked, "What do you want?"

"A bacon, egg, and cheese muffin and a cup of French vanilla coffee to go," the former mayor answered while she pulled money from her wallet. She waited calmly for her order while every eye in the place stared at her. Finally becoming overly annoyed with the attention, she turned to them to address the crowd as a whole. "As it's clear you aren't going to kill me right now and I'm too busy with other things to be concerned with what simplistic plot you're trying to come up with in order to save poor Snow White, perhaps all of you could find something better to do than stare at me. I assure you that staring at me will do nothing to either save your precious princess nor get you any closer to a plan that would actually work to thwart me."

"What makes you think we don't already have a plan?" Whale stepped into her personal space. "Maybe we already know what we're going to do to you."

"I doubt it," Regina deadpanned, giving him a look that said she was less than intimidated. "Either way, your little plan will have to wait. My food is ready, and I have places to be." She handed Granny a twenty, took the food, and called over her shoulder as she departed, "Keep the change."

"That's it," Leroy stood up, determination on his face. "I'm breaking into her house and finding Mary Margaret's heart."

David sighed. "I'll go with you."

* * *

With a wariness to her body she hadn't felt since the loneliness of Daniel's death had swept through her, Regina climbed her stairs. Her mind refused to allow her to stop thinking about the final moments between her younger self and Emma Swan, and she was becoming increasingly agitated by that fact.

Her face sank into a deep scowl. It was unlike her to be unable to control her mind, and the lack of discipline was irritating. The brief encounter she'd had at the jail a few hours before was also weighing on her mind. It would seem Ruby Lucas was an ally she had not predicted, and she wondered if she had more. It could be to her benefit to sort that out soon.

Making a mental note to do just that, she deftly opened her bedroom door to find it wasn't as empty as she expected it to be. Standing beside her chest of drawers with one hand pushed in among her silk pajamas was David Nolan. Leroy wasn't far away, and she was beyond irritated to see he had her lingerie drawer open.

The panic on their faces would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so dire.

"You have three seconds to remove your hands from my private clothing items," she snarled, eyes swirling with magic. "And then I'm going to destroy you."


	32. Chapter 32

The men stood, eyes wide and breathing shallow, as the Evil Queen stared between them. "What do you think you're doing?" Her voice cut through the air causing it to practically sizzle with her irritation and frustration at their apparent audacity.

"What do you think?" Leroy took a step toward her. "We're looking for Mary Margaret's heart. Hand it over, and we promise to go easy on you."

David cringed. "Leroy…"

" _You_ promise to go easy on  _me_?" Regina laughed, her face a mask of mocking and amusement. "What do you think you'll do, dwarf? Whistle me to death?"

The smaller man motioned as if he would take another step forward only to find himself suddenly pinned to the ceiling dangerously close to the moving fan located there. Raising an eyebrow, Regina turned to the other man. "What about you, Charming?"

He slowly removed his hand from where it rested in the drawer and held both up. "Can we talk about this?"

Regina only chuckled as she gracefully made her way to him. "You two took a very big risk breaking into my home," she purred as she reached a hand out and laid it on his chest.

David tried to pull away but found he couldn't move. Trying to hide his rising panic, he attempted to talk his way out of their predicament. "We were only trying to do what we thought was right so that we could find Emma and Henry. Who knows what kind of danger they might be in?"

"You trying to do 'what was right' is exactly  _why_ Emma and Henry are lost," she countered in that same even, sickeningly smooth tone. "If not for you and your wife, the most any of us would be concerned about right now is whether or not my title is Mayor."

"She was just trying to protect our family," he offered and then winced at his own words as he quickly realized it was likely the wrong thing to say.

"Someone had to," Leroy called from his spot on the ceiling. "Emma wasn't protecting herself or Henry from you and your crazy sel..."

"Enough!" A burst of energy left Regina and hit the dwarf squarely in the chest, knocking him unconscious. "Emma," she growled as she turned to David, who was looking at the hand still resting on his chest, "was never in any danger with me. In fact, she was likely safer living with me than she ever was living with you. She is protected with me, just as Henry is."

David's eyes narrowed. Despite the imminent danger he was in, his need to protect his daughter was stronger than his need to protect himself, just as it always had been. "Why?"

Regina's eyebrows rose as if to say the answer should be obvious. "Why? Because she's the mother of my child." David's jaw dropped, and Regina's hand recoiled from his chest at her own answer. She tried to maintain an air of apathy, "Not that it's something that matters to me directly, but it matters to Henry, and so it matters to me as a reasonable course to keep my son happy."

Charming's eyes narrowed. Had he been able to move, he would have stepped back into her personal space, but whatever spell she was using to hold him remained steadfast. "Do you really think taking Mary Margaret's heart is something that isn't going to cause Henry to hate you more?"

"Probably not," she answered with a shrug, "but desperate times call for desperate measures."

"And what about Emma?" He grunted as he tried to move. "What do you think she'll think if she finds out what you've done?"

Regina's face faltered, and her mask slipped as she honestly considered her answer. Emma Swan, the person outside of Doctor Hopper who had, thus far, been there to help her work through her addiction, was the last person she would want to know how hard she'd fallen off the wagon.

The disappointed but understanding look in the blonde's eyes was a perfect match to the one her son often gave her, and the thought that both of them could look at her in the same way for the same thing at the same time made her chest clinch.

She found she didn't like the idea of disappointing the sheriff any more than she liked the idea of disappointing Henry, but she also knew that she needed to keep the Charmings in check because they could easily make the situation even worse. The only way she knew to do that was to keep Mary Margaret's heart as collateral.

As she considered her options, she lowered the still unconscious Leroy to the ground but kept David stationary. Regina paced her room, walking around the dwarf on the floor and past the other man as she gauged the best course of action and tried to understand her emotional reaction to this situation.

What  _about_ Emma? What did it  _really_  matter what the younger woman thought? Why  _had_  she become an influencing factor on what Regina did?

With a loud gasp, Regina grabbed at her chest and hit the ground, her knees striking the carpet with force. Trying to pull in air, her face contorted in pain and her body went rigid while she held herself up on all fours. The violence that struck her was strong enough to force her to let go of David, who looked down at her, unable to figure out what to do or what was going on.

"Emma," she managed to push back enough to sit with her legs out in front of her and her hands behind her to hold her up. Her eyes looked up to David, pleading with him to help, "is hurt badly."

Panic rising in him, he rushed to kneel down beside her to look her in the eye. "How do you know? You know where she is, don't you? What's going on? How do you that she's hurt?"

She took in calming breaths to try and alleviate some of the constriction in her chest. Closing her eyes to concentrate on her answers, she spoke slowly and deliberately, "I don't know how I know. But I can feel it." She opened her eyes and looked directly at him. "She's hurt, and we must do something quickly."

Pulling back slightly, David's face grew grim. His frown deepened, and he asked a question that he would never have dreamed he would ever ask Regina Mills about his daughter. "Have you ever told Emma that she could always find you?"

* * *

"Oh crap," Emma muttered while she pulled Henry into the shrubbery beside the road. "I recognize her. Be quiet, kid. Seriously, don't make a sound."

"Who is it?" The boy winced as a branch from a shrub hit a particularly sensitive portion of his anatomy. "Why are we hiding?"

"That's Cora, Regina's mother. You think your mom is bad? She doesn't hold a candle to  _her_ mom. Now be quiet," she hissed, putting a hand over his mouth and praying the shrubs were enough to hide them.

Cora's entourage slowly moved by with Cora seated in a carriage in the middle of the escort. The horses' hoof silently pushed through the dirt, and the carriage's wheels occasionally clicked as they came across a rock or branch in the road.

For her part, Cora stared out of the window and allowed her eyes to wander over the forest while she pushed out with her magic to feel the surrounding area. You could never be too careful of things that might want to attack you, and you could never miss a chance to find something that you might be able to use to your advantage at some later point in time.

It was her magic that found them first. She could feel them hiding in the shrubbery. At first, she thought they might be bandits who foolishly believed they could rob her, but, upon closer inspection, she realized they didn't feel like that type of threat.

However, they had magic, and it was powerful. That much was without question. She needed to know who and what they were and determine how much of a threat they were to her and her plans.

"Stop the carriage," she called out, and the procession immediately came to a halt.

"Crap," Emma muttered under her breath.

Stepping down, Cora walked the short distance to stand directly in front of them. "Did you really think you could hide?" With a wave of her hand, the greenery disappeared, leaving Emma and Henry exposed and still crouched down in what was now a ridiculous position.

Slowly standing, the blonde maintained eye contact with the older woman while keeping her hand firmly on her son's shoulder. "We didn't want to be in the way," she offered as an answer.

"And who are you?" Cora looked the two up and down.

"Nobody important," the young woman shrugged. "Just travelers making their way home."

"You're not in any traveling clothes I've ever seen." Cora leaned forward slightly and narrowed her eyes. "Where is 'home'?"

Emma glanced around, finding the sun setting to her left and noting the direction they had been headed before they tried to hide, she quickly surmised it was safe to answer, "The North Country."

"Really?" The older woman stood up to her full height again. Her voice held the coldness that the two younger people had often heard intoned in Mayor Mills' voice back before the curse had been broken. "I didn't realize the North Country had magical users that were so powerful."

"Magic users?" The blonde couldn't hide the panicked confusion in her voice. "We're not magic users."

"Oh, my dear, do you really think you can pull that sort of thing with me? You can't hide the level of power you have from someone as skilled as I am. It practically radiates off of you." Cora's eyes fell to the pin on Emma's shirt. "Did the Queen send you here? Are you spies?"

The young woman sputtered. Things were spiraling quickly. "N-n-no," she shook her head in the negative. "We were just traveling by on our way back. We're not spies."

Tiling her head to the side, Cora added. "Just as you're not magical users?"

Henry stiffened. There was something in the intonation being used by Cora that hit a raw nerve for him, and he was reminded that it was the same tone Regina took with him when she knew he was lying and she was about to punish him for it. This time, however, Emma was not lying, but Henry's innate fear told him that it wasn't going to matter. Something bad was about to happen. He knew it.

"I think, perhaps, you need to be persuaded to tell me why you're  _really_ here," Cora said in an even, inflectionless voice. Waving her hand in the air, both mother and son found themselves held aloft by thick, snaking tree branches. "Eva cannot possible think it would this easy," she commented as she stepped back to get a better view of the pair. "Now, dear, tell me what you know."

She motioned with her hand for the branches holding Emma to move forward, and, once the younger woman was close enough, Cora plunged her hand into the blonde's chest.

Emma gasped and then grunted. "I know," she said in a pained voice, "that you can't just take my heart."

Cora attempted to pull the heart out, but it remained where it was. "No matter," she said as her hand began to squeeze the organ. "This works just as well. Now speak before you die, and I promise I won't kill your son as well."

For a brief moment, Emma had the presence of mind to wonder if Cora finding out now that her heart could not be removed would affect the encounter she and Mary Margaret would have later, but the thought didn't last long. The pain being inflicted on her as her heart was being crushed within her own chest was too great for her to concentrate on much for very long at a time.

* * *

" _What_?" Regina glared at David from where she sat on the floor. The pain in her chest was not subsiding, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to think clearly. "What are you talking about?"

David Nolan, the gentle sheepherder who would rather thatch a roof than create kingdom politics, who would rather protect his family than worry about an entire kingdom, who gave up what he'd rather do so that he could do what needed to be done, fought his base instincts to reject the reality he was beginning to see forming before him.

In a tight voice, he asked again, "Have you ever told my daughter that she would always be able to find you?"

Regina rolled her eyes as she grabbed at her chest with one hand. "Why in the world would I  _ever_ tell  _your daughter_ something as ridiculous as," she stopped herself. Her jaw snapped shut, and her eyes widened as the last memory of Emma from her younger self flashed through her mind.

_"Now that we know each other, you and your mother are always welcome here as my guests. You can always find me."_

Once, as a young girl, she had told Emma Swan just that. This was not happening. Whatever was going on here, it wasn't what Charming was implying with this question. It was something else. It had to be something else. Gritting her teeth, she answered in a strained tone, "Once, but it was a very long time ago."

David dropped his head down, eyes closing. "When?"

"When I was about 15," she answered. Her breath caught in her throat as another wave of pain ran through her. "I realize this brings up a very long list of questions, but she's going to die if we don't do something quickly."

He stood, helping her to her feet. "What do we need to do?"

"Grab the items on the chaise while I get your wife's heart, and the three of us need to go to my family's mausoleum." She staggered toward her closet. "Leave the dwarf. He'll be out for another hour at the least."


	33. Chapter 33

"Stop it!" Henry's voice was filled with terror. "She's telling the truth."

Cora's attention turned to the young boy, and Emma's head dropped from relief as the older woman's hand released the pressure being placed on her heart. The blonde's body slumped down, and it was clear the sheriff had passed out. Henry's body tightened with apprehension.

Face impassive, Cora looked Henry up and down. "You are either very foolish or very brave."

"I'm not either one," he answered. His eyes flipped between his unconscious mother and the woman whose hand was literally in her chest. "But she's my mom, and I don't want her to die. We weren't doing anything wrong."

"Foolish," Cora said mostly to herself. She pulled her hand from Emma's chest and took the few steps needed to stand in front of Henry. "What is your name, child?"

He took a quick moment to consider his options. Telling her the truth seemed like a bad idea based on everything he now knew, but lying to her could be just as dangerous. He wanted to be a distraction long enough for Emma to wake up. Maybe, if she was awake, she could get them out of this. She was the White Knight, after all. He decided to split the difference and give his middle name. "Daniel."

Cora tilted her head as if making a mental comment on this fact, but she otherwise remained impassively still. Finally reaching up with one hand, she took his face into a vice grip, forcing him to look her in the eye. "What is your _entire_  name, child?"

Emma groaned and her mind unclouded just in time to see the last interaction. Her hear pounded, instincts screaming that it was a bad idea for Henry to answer the question and wondering what he had already said. Struggling to get free, she tried to tell him with her eyes not to say more.

"Daniel Swan," he answered and then cast his eyes down, making a wounded face as if calling himself by that name was both painful and shameful.

"Swan," Cora murmured to herself. She considered the last name. "From the North Country?" It may have been a question, but her tone said she didn't believe a word of it.

Henry's breathing was shallow from his fear, and her grip had not loosened. He could barely nod yes to her question, but he did so anyway, not really wanting to speak more.

"He's just a kid," Emma called out, trying to get the attention off of her son. "Leave him alone."

"So foolish," Cora said as she released her hold on Henry. She gave a small smirk as she asked, "How do you intend to stop me, dear?"

The blonde took in a deep breath, teeth grinding, as she tried to contain her temper. The look on Cora's face was the look she'd seen on Mayor Mills' face dozens of times when she'd first arrived in Storybrooke. It was an arrogant look that screamed the other woman knew and controlled everything while she knew nothing and had no say in how things were to be.

Emma  _hated_ that look. She'd grown to accept it coming from Regina. She had learned it was a defensive mechanism for times when the mayor felt personally threatened, and the sheriff had come to know that the smile was far less of an arrogant smirk than a mask to cover up the fear Regina held.

On Cora, however, the smirk was exactly what it claimed to be, and Emma despised seeing it on the witch's face. Her thoughts and emotions narrowed, coming together, as she thought about Regina and the many times she must have seen this look and known that something horrible was about to happen to her, powerless to do a thing to protect herself, just as Emma and Henry were now.

That thought only made her emotions more intense, and, as her mind narrowed even more on how unfair this whole situation was and how unfair life seemed to have been to a young Regina, she gasped in surprise.

Regina? The blonde shook her head. No, she was not feeling what she thought she was feeling, but, then again, it was hard to set it aside. She suddenly knew that, somewhere in her own time and in the other world, Regina was panicking about her, in sympathetic pain for her, and desperately trying to get her and Henry back.

She could feel it.

Cora stepped closer. "Finally realizing your situation, are we?" She was commenting on the gasp that had just escaped her captive. "If you tell me everything now, I may consider simply letting you and your son rot in a tower somewhere for the rest of your lives."

Emma closed her eyes and let the swirl of emotions be their own guide. What did she have to lose? Inwardly, she directed her thoughts to their current situation, and asked for help, trying to keep the desperation she felt at bay but knowing she was failing at doing so.

"Prayers?" Cora chuckled. "I doubt your gods will help you." With an eerily graceful move, she plunged her hand back into Emma's chest and began to squeeze again. "Speak."

* * *

Regina let out a strangled cry and nearly fell to the sheriff station's floor. She caught herself on a nearby desk before she went completely down. From behind the cell bars, Mary Margaret watched with curious eyes. She looked to her husband and waited for an explanation while Ruby helped Regina take a seat.

"I don't know," David began while he opened the cell's door. "Something's happening with Emma. She's hurt and in danger, and, somehow, Regina is feeling it."

"What do you mean she's feeling it? How is that even possible?" Mary Margaret stepped out of the cell but didn't make a motion toward the seated woman.

"Like I said, I don't know, but Regina knows where Emma is, and she claims she knows how to get her back." He looked to Ruby. "Can you get the car ready? We need to move fast."

Ruby nodded. "Anything else I can do?"

"Yes," Regina reached up and grabbed onto the deputy's arm, keeping her stationary. "After we've left, get Doctor Whale and bring him to my family's mausoleum."

"What are you saying?" Mary Margaret's voice was frightened. "How badly is Emma hurt?"

"It's not for Ms. Swan," Regina spat back. She looked back to Ruby, giving her a pleading look. "Also, stop by my home and fetch Henry's stuffed dragon. It's on his bedside table."

Ruby's lips fell into a tightlipped line, and she nodded before taking off to get the car ready and then take care of Regina's requests.

Mary Margaret watched her leave before starting her line of questioning again. "What's going on here? Where are Emma and Henry? How do you know what's happened to them? What have you done to Emma?"

The former mayor literally snarled back. Between the increasing pain in her chest and the metaphorical pain standing in front of her being all too demanding, she was having trouble remembering why she shouldn't burn Snow White and the entire town down to the ground and walk upon the ashes.

Emma and Henry were, of course, the answer to that.

Sighing heavily, Regina answered in clipped tones. "I've done nothing to Ms. Swan." She paused, feeling more than hearing Emma's pleas. What was this? This bizarre connection between them was giving them the ability to communicate somehow, and both Emma and Henry were in more danger than she could have dreamed possible a moment before. "Cora," she breathed out, face icy with her own personal fears.

The pixie haired brunette frowned deeper and narrowed her eyes. "What does she have to do with any of this? If you're saying your mother…"

"No, you idiot." Regina swiftly stood and opened the box in her hand to reveal Mary Margaret's heart. "Emma and Henry are in danger. They've managed to run into my mother, and she's," she shook her head, unable to fully understand but knowing it had something to do with her chest. Regina's eyes widened. "She's trying to take Emma's heart."

"You have to do something," David practically shouted.

"What do you think I've been trying to do? I didn't take your wife's heart because I wanted to kill her." Despite herself, Regina raised an eyebrow and quirked her head. "Well, that's not entirely true. I  _do_  want your wife dead, but neither Henry nor Ms. Swan would ever forgive me. It's really beside the point right now. I took your heart," she said as she pulled said organ from its resting place and held it up in front of Mary Margaret, "to keep you from doing anything else that might make this situation worse while I worked out how to get them back home. After all, it was your interference that caused this entire mess, as always."

She plunged the heart back into Mary Margaret's chest, smiling with pleasure at the look of pain that crossed the younger woman's face. "But I need you now to get them back, and, once they're home and safe again, if you ever try to pry them away from again," Regina leaned closer, voice falling into the Evil Queen that had once crashed the wedding of Prince Charming and Snow White, "I will destroy you once and for all; I'll have no reason not to."

She let go of the heart in her hand and pulled it from the smaller woman's chest, not caring if Mary Margaret quickly recovered or not. "We need to go. Ms. Swan's charms won't keep my mother occupied for long, and the ending for that is not one I wish to see... or feel."

David glanced between them. "Threatening us isn't going to get any of us anywhere, Regina."

"That wasn't a threat, dear. It was a promise. I'm tired of this game, aren't you?" She tilted her head. "Even when I'm doing the right thing, I lose. Now my son and my…  _your_ daughter are in danger, facing my mother in  _our_ past back before I had ever encountered Snow White, and it's all your fault because you wanted to protect her. From what? From my addiction? From  _me_? If anything, Emma has been protecting all of  _you_ from me for months now." She grunted, leaning heavily against the desk behind her. "She's pleading for help. There's desperation. We need to get to the cemetery so that I can help her."

The Charmings looked to each other, some unspoken agreement fell between them, and they each took an arm to help a still staggering Regina to the Sheriff's car.


	34. Chapter 34

"Get me to the mirror," Regina dictated orders in a pained yet still oddly imperial voice as the Charmings helped her down the stairs beneath her father's tomb. She groaned as the pain in her chest continued to escalate. Mentally, she tried to assure Emma that help was coming. "There's more than one spell I'll have to enact," she told them while they all came to a stop in front of the large mirror hanging on the wall beside the carved shelves containing various items from their world.

"While I gather items from here," she continued to instruct while she leaned heavily against the wall beside the mirror, "go get the items belonging to Henry and Ms. Swan from the car and bring them to me." Her gaze held Mary Margaret's, and it left no doubt that she expected David to go to the car. He hesitated for a second before leaving, unsure if it was a good idea to the leave the two women alone in the room together.

"Ms. Blanchard," the former mayor's voice sounded tight. "For this to work, I require both dark and light magic. You intrinsically have light magic, though you can't tap into it." She paused to take in a sudden breath as a particularly sharp pain stabbed at her chest. She ignored the other woman's attempt to help her and continued on with a wave of her hand. "I, however,  _can_ tap into your power if you'll allow me. The spell to bring them back requires a mixture of both, and, before you start to worry over me defiling your soul in some way, the spell itself is not considered dark magic."

Mary Margaret frowned. "What is it, then?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "Neutral. In fact, most magic is neutral. What defines it as good or evil is the intent and use of the person wielding it." She pushed from the wall and began gathering items from various cubby holes about the room. "The will power of the individual determines both the final outcome and price paid to use the magic in question." She swayed for a moment, sweat breaking out along her hairline. "However, most people cannot maintain the will power required to not give in to the temptation magic offers."

"Such as?" Mary Margaret stepped forward and took several items from Regina's hands to help her in the gathering process.

The older woman gave a little scoff of irritation, but she answered the question. "Such as power, in all its many forms from political power to personal power," she paused, her back to the other woman and one hand held mid-air toward a box she was retrieving. "Sexual power." Her voice was a bit quieter at the last admission. Taking a deep breath, she began to move and speak again. "Power is a very addicting thing, and, once you've had the experience of what it feels like to have  _that_  kind of power, it's very difficult to prevent yourself from being enslaved by the very power you seek."

"It's addicting." The younger woman's voice was matter-of-fact. It wasn't a question, nor was it an observation. It was a statement and a testament to her ability to read between the lines. "It's a drug."

Regina turned around, hands full of small vials piled in a bowl. Her body was rigid, face beginning to pale, and her eyes were bright with the pain she was experiencing. Despite it all, her voice remained calm. "Yes."

They made their way back to the mirror with their burdens, and, once everything was set on the ground before it, Mary Margaret helped Regina be seated beneath the mirror. The pixie haired brunette stared down at her adversary, eyes showing the mixture of emotions at play inside of her. She still didn't fully trust Regina, and she doubted she ever would again. She was concerned both for her family trapped in another world and time and for the woman on the floor, who was trying to control her breathing as the pain wracked her body, and she was curious, too.

This was as much honest, non-aggressive discussion as she'd had with Regina in more years than she cared to recall, and she found herself wanting to take full advantage of the unspoken truce they were under. "Why use something that you know is so addicting?"

"I didn't want to at first," Regina's head rolled back to rest against the stone wall behind her. "It felt too good to use it. I knew right from the start that it could easily be my undoing. But," she opened her eyes, and the hate she felt was evident even through her pain and worry, "you were a bigger issue than my potential addiction."

"You're not blaming  _me_ for  _your_ addiction, are you?" Mary Margaret's voice went up a touch in defense. "I can't be blamed for what you've become. You made your choices, Regina."

The older woman closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. There was no emotion in her voice when she finally responded. "So I did, and it may still be my undoing."

Mary Margaret's frown deepened. "What does that?"

Regina opened her eyes slowly, allowing her gaze to gradually focus on the items on the floor before her. "It doesn't matter now. Will you help me prepare these spells?"

The younger woman nodded and knelt down on the other side of the items. "Why two?"

"My mother has now become aware of Ms. Swan's existence and knows she cannot take her heart. If she is allowed to remember this fact, it may disrupt future events. One spell I'll have to attempt to send though this connection I have with Ms. Swan will be to erase my mother's memory of both Henry and the sheriff." Regina tried not to wince at what she was proposing. It was going to require a lot of magical work, and she wasn't entirely certain she could do it.

Mary Margaret stopped handing over items and stared at the other woman. "You know about what happened between Emma and Cora back in the Enchanted Forest, don't you? How do you know that? Who told you?"

Regina rolled her eyes and gave a small sigh. "Emma told me a few nights ago. Now, please Ms. Blanchard, we must finish the preparations. Your husband should be back soon with the items, and we need to be ready when he arrives. The sooner I can enact these spells, the better."

* * *

"Mom?!" Henry screamed, terrified that his mother was already dead.

Emma's jaw flexed with the effort it took to open her eyes, turn her head, and focus on her son. "She knows, Henry."

The young boy blinked while he tried to decipher who his mother was referring to. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he slowly, sagely nodded.

Cora's face showed a little strain while her hand continued to squeeze the heart in Emma's chest. "Who knows, and what do they know, exactly?" The irritation in her voice only barely covered by the frustration she was feeling at not being able to either remove Emma's heart nor crush it. However, she could inflict pain, and she intended to do so until the blonde gave her the answers she wanted.

Emma ignored her and instead focused on her son. "She can feel it, and she knows."

Henry blinked. "How?"

There comes a time in a person's life when they must face a truth about themselves they thought they would never have to do. It may be something ugly, or sad, or even something pleasant they simply have difficulty accepting about themselves. In the moment, as Emma felt her heart struggling to beat around Cora's iron grip and she was certain that death would soon approach, her moment came in a lighting strike of realization.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped into a perfect 'O' of stunned surprise. Quickly pulling her thoughts in, she struggled to find her voice around both her shock and her pain as she answered her son with the only phrase she could think of that she knew he would understand and Cora would not. "Because, Henry, she will always find me."

Henry's eyes grew large, reflecting his mother's shock and surprise. "Really? Are you sure?" They were multilayered questions.

"Yeah," she answered, wincing again when Cora's grip managed another round of pain. "I'm sure."

"Whoever this person is," the older woman snarled, "she'll find you too late."

* * *

Regina let out a strangled yelp and leaned back against the wall until the wave of pain passed. "This will all have to be done almost simultaneously." Her breathing was labored, and she'd lost all the color in her face. Wiping at the sweat on her brow, she handed a newly created bundle of ingredients to David. "As soon as I've pushed the other spell through, open this and sprinkle it over the items you've brought in and drop everything into my lap." She looked to Mary Margaret. "Once the items are in my lap, you must make certain we are holding hands and you are touching the frame of the mirror." She turned back to David. "If everything works as planned, you'll have just enough time to reach through the mirror and pull Emma and Henry back through to our side. The portal will not last long, so you must act quickly. When they are safely back, remove those blasted pins before Ms. Swan has the chance to disrupt time and space and send them back _again_."

David nodded. "I just… reach in?"

"Yes, the spell will know whom you're retrieving, but it takes someone on this side as a grounding agent for it to know where to send the targets, which is why you must reach into the portal to retrieve them." Regina groaned. The pain was constant now. Turning again to Mary Margaret, she gave her final instructions. "Once I begin the second spell, you will feel a drain. Try to remain relaxed and open. If you panic or attempt to block me, the spell won't work, and I don't think I'll be able to attempt it a second time." She held the other woman's gaze. "You'll simply have to trust me."

Mary Margaret shifted uncomfortably where she stood a few feet away. "You sure this will work?"

"No," Regina answered honestly, "but it's the best I can do."

"It'll work," David cut in, voice sounding completely confident, though tense.

Regina raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him in question. "What makes you so certain?"

"Because you've already found her." He glanced between the women. "And, once you find someone you care about, you…"

"I  _care_ about Henry," Regina cut in, disgust in her voice.

"But you're not connected to Henry," he countered and then ducked his head at his wife's look of abject horror.

"David, no," his wife slowly shook her head back and forth. "She's Emma's step grandmother."

"The connection is from the wraith attack," Regina said before he could answer. "Our magic entwined when she touched me just before the hat began to work. It must have formed a connection somehow. This is not the first time I've had an idea of Ms. Swan's emotional state. This is simply the first time I've had such a  _strong_ connection."

Mary Margaret's eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't Emma?"

"Ms. Swan probably thought she had a strong sense of intuition," Regina chuckled despite her discomfort level. "And why would I give away something that put me at an advantage with you?"

"There's a reason why the connection is stronger," David said, his voice rising in volume a bit. "And she," he pointed at the woman in the floor, "is no more Emma's grandmother than Cora is yours," he pointed at his wife.

"But, David, it's not the same. Of course Cora isn't my," Mary Margaret stopped herself. One line of logic would lead to another, and she was dumbstruck at how to argue her point or against his.

He looked back down to Regina and noted her weakening state. "We're running out of time. You need to admit what's going on and  _use_  it. Despite what you might think, Regina, love is power, and, right now, you need all the power you can get."

Wiping at her face, Regina rolled her eyes upwards while she thought on how things stood. She could feel that Emma had come to the same conclusion moments before, and she hated she might have to agree with Prince Charming. However, Emma was only going to be able to occupy Cora's attention for so long before she turned to hurting Henry, and neither she nor Emma was pleased at the prospect.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Regina pushed up to sit a bit straighter against the wall. She cleared her throat and answered in a scratchy, strained voice, "I've never been very good at loving someone."

David nodded his approval. "Now's the time to learn."

Returning the nod, Regina looked to Mary Margaret. "Are you ready? Do you think you can handle this?"

Mary Margret shook her head in the negative. "No." It was clear the reply covered several issues all at once. "But what choice do I have?"

Regina gave her an oddly sympathetic look. "Let's begin."


	35. Chapter 35

Closing her eyes and focusing her emotions, Regina popped the cork to the vile she held in her hand and drank the potion as she mumbled under her breath. The potion was to fortify her as she created her first spell, and she mentally said a prayer to whatever entity might be listening to help her ensure this worked.

The Charmings watched and waited for Regina to give them a sign to move to the second part of the phase. Quiet and breathless, they could barely hear what Regina was muttering, but it was enough to make David stiffen and Mary Margaret flinch.

"Ms. Swan," the former mayor's voice was scratchy. She was stern and determined as she spoke aloud to help her better focus her energy through their connection. "It's imperative my mother does not remember you or Henry, lest it destroy our current present. I am sending a spell through you that will affect her, hopefully erasing her memories of your encounter." She could tell Emma understood what she was communicating, and some of the apprehension began to leave her. "There are two things you need to know. This will hurt, and, for this to work, she must maintain contact with your heart. Do not allow her to let it go."

* * *

"Fat chance of that happening," Emma muttered.

"What did you say?" Cora's hand squeezed tighter. "How dare you speak to me in that manner."

The blonde groaned but managed to opened her eyes and glance quickly to Henry before turning back to lock her gaze on the cause of her current physical pain. "I'll talk to you however I want." She tried to focus her emotions, and she hoped Regina was receiving what she was saying. At Cora's disgusted sneer, she added, "I'm strong enough to take on whatever you throw at me."

* * *

"One can hope, Sheriff," Regina whispered. Clamping her jaw shut and relaxing her body, she pushed forward with the spell, sending it hurting through her shared connection with the other woman, and directly into the hand trying to squeeze the life out of the blonde.

* * *

Emma screamed. The pain that emanated from inside of her was hundreds of times greater than what she had thus far been experiencing. For a brief moment, it blacked her out. As she came to her senses, she realized that both she and Henry were free of their restraints and Cora and her guards were unconscious.

"Ma?" Henry rushed to where she remained on the ground. "Are you okay? What happened?"

She gasped for air as she tried to stand. "Regina sent a spell through me to take Cora out." She glanced around again. "Looks like it worked."

Henry's eyes were wide with fear and stress. "What do we do now?"

* * *

"You wait, Henry," Regina whispered in a raspy voice. A little louder, she commanded, "Now, David."

He quickly rushed into action, opened the pouch he'd been handed, poured the contents onto the items belonging to his daughter and grandson, and dropped them into Regina's lap.

Meanwhile, Mary Margaret stepped up, took Regina's trembling hand in her own, and touched the mirror's frame. She let out a small gasp as she felt Regina's magic snake its way through her to find her own. The feeling was odd and unsettling, and she fought her natural inclination to prevent the dark magic from pulling her own, purer magic out. In an odd moment as her mind tried to understand what her body and spirit felt, she thought it must be what water and oil feel like when people attempt to combine them.

"I was never fond of that type of salad dressing," Regina quipped, and she chuckled at Mary Margaret's little jump of surprise. "Once they're through, make certain to remove your hand from the mirror, Ms. Blanchard," she said in a less steady voice before refocusing herself to her task.

The room fell silent save for the labored breathing of Regina. Then, slowly, the image in the mirror changed to one of Emma and Henry standing among fallen bodies somewhere in a forest. David quickly reached in and pulled his hand out, pulling both of them through the mirror and into the stony room in which their rescuers were waiting.

Mary Margaret dropped her hand and pulled away from Regina, rushing to Emma and Henry. "It worked." She wiped at Emma's sweat drenched face. "Are you okay? How badly are you hurt?"

Emma glanced around, trying to understand everything that was happening. She looked up to see Ruby and Doctor Whale coming down the stairs of the mausoleum and then to the spot beneath the mirror that she somehow knew was where Regina was.

She froze. "Oh God." Regina was slumped against the wall. It was hard to tell if she was breathing, but she was, at the very least, unconscious. Emma pushed away from the crowd around her and fell down beside Regina. "No," she said in a panicked tone. "No, no, no,  _no_." She was beyond herself, caught between being angry, terrified, and despondent. "You don't get to do this, Regina." She checked for a pulse, and found one. " _Thank you_ ," she said to whatever entity was keeping the other woman alive.

"Don't thank  _me_ ," Regina said in a very tired voice. "I was doing this for Henry." She slowly opened her eyes and gave a small upturn to her lips. "What don't I get to do, Sheriff?"

Emma gave a relieved sigh. Sitting back against the wall next to the other woman, she answered in a somewhat amused yet still serious tone, "Run away via death by magic due to saving someone else."

"Too heroic?" Regina asked with the same tone as she looked around to see they had an audience watching them and intently listening. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cool stones.

"Sorry, Madam Mayor, but you're not allowed to run away after we figured all of this crap out. I'm not going to say it, but I think you know what I'm thinking here," Emma answered, as she nudged her shoulder gently against Regina's as they sat side by side against the wall.

The older woman gave a little hum. "If ever you do say it, I'll be forced to do horrible things to you."

"Just do me a favor and surprise me, then. That means no apples and no magic. You'll have to be creative about it," the blonde said in a mock serious tone.

Regina gave a tired sounding snort. "I've always enjoyed a challenged, Sheriff."

Emma smirked at the other woman. "I've always been one."

"That you have," Regina sighed out, eyes still closed.

Finally looking somewhere other than Regina, Emma came out of the moment and realized what Regina already had, they had an audience. Standing and awkwardly clearing her throat, she nodded to the doctor. "I think she needs to be checked out," she motioned to Regina, "and, honestly, I do, too. But we probably both should go to the hospital for it."

Whale grimaced. "Do I even want to know where you've been and what's happened in your absence?"

"No, probably not," Emma answered while she bent down to pick up her red leather jacket from Regina's lap. She slid it on and then grabbed the Hulk action figure. Raising an eye brown, she turned to her son. "This yours?"

Henry's eyes lit up, and he walked up to take the toy only to have his face fall a moment later.

"Ms. Lucas has Dino, Henry," Regina said in a calm tone. Taking the cue, Ruby held the stuffed dragon out to him, and he happily took it and clutched the two toys to him not caring in that moment how young it made him look. "Thank you for your assistance, Ruby," the brunette on the ground added a moment later.

"Sure," Ruby answered in an uncertain voice. "Shouldn't we be getting all of you to the hospital or something?"

With a miffed looked on his face, Whale strolled over to Regina and checked her vital signs as best he could. "Your pulse is weak, Regina."

"Imagine that," came her acrid reply.

"Regina, he's trying to help," Mary Margaret called out from her place across the room.

"Though I'd rather not," the doctor added. Looking up to see Emma giving him a very hard glare, he sighed. "I suppose we ought to get the three of you to the hospital. While we're traveling there, maybe someone can fill me in on the situation so I know what, exactly, I'm trying to treat."

"It might take a while," David answered as he helped Emma pick Regina up off of the floor. "Emma, how do you feel?"

As she slid her arm around one side of the Regina's small frame, she shrugged, "I feel gritty. I need to take a shower, but, other than that, I feel fine. Why?"

David secured his grip around Regina and they all began to move, "Because Regina is like this." The woman in question simply grunted in reply. "And you seem fine, but you both were experiencing a lot of pain, and you were the one Cora was attacking, so why aren't you more hurt?"

Emma stopped walking and glanced at the brunette between them. "You didn't have to do that," she said in an awed tone.

"Henry needs at least one fully functioning mother, Ms. Swan," Regina answered, though it was clear she was having trouble staying awake. "It was better for one of us to take on all the damage, than it be spread between the two with the potential for both of us to be incapacitated or worse."

"Is she saying," Mary Margaret called from behind them, "that she somehow took away the damage done to you?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded solemnly and started their slow walk back to the cars. Throwing a look over her shoulder to her mother, she didn't utter another word, but the expression said it all.

Where did the evil intent lay in this situation, and who was really to blame?

Mary Margaret stood still for a moment, processing. It wasn't until Ruby stopped beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder that she moved on, but the point had not been lost on anyone present. It was clear a shift in the powers that be in the town had just taken place, and, for once, Snow White wasn't sure what side she was truly on.


	36. Chapter 36

"There doesn't appear to be any extreme damage," Whale commented while looking at Regina's chart. "You're dehydrated, so I'm recommending you take at least one more IV bag before we release you. You are most certainly to the point of exhaustion. I'd recommend you get plenty of rest and try to take it easy for the next few days, and," he scowled, "I really wish you'd allow us to at least do an EKG on your heart. Based on what I've been told, I find it hard to believe some damage wasn't done to Emma's heart during her encounter with Cora, and, if you took Emma's damage as your own…"

"Would it just be easier, less troublesome, and make you stop being so pesky if you could simply look at my heart," Regina asked in a highly irritated tone. Sitting upright in the ER bed in which she'd been placed earlier in the day, she was beginning to let her annoyance with being trapped at the hospital for so many hours play over the fatigue she had coming into the hospital.

"You sound like he can just pop your chest open and take a look." Emma gave Regina a disapproving glance. "It couldn't hurt for us to be sure you're okay, could it?"

"As a physician, I'd feel better knowing your heart was fine." The doctor tried not to roll his eyes, though his body language screamed that, as a person, he'd rather the former mayor was hurt. "So, yes, I would in fact feel better if I could examine your heart, which is why…"

"Oh my God, Regina, what are you doing?" Emma lunged at the bed, arriving too late. In empathy to the self-inflicted pain the brunette was doing, the sheriff gave a strangled cry, gripping the side of the hospital bed to keep from falling over.

Regina grunted as she plucked her own heart from her chest and held it out for all to see. "You see? It's fine."

"Holy hell," the blonde muttered, eyes glued to the heart. "I can't believe you just did that.  _Why_ would you do that?"

Doctor Whale stared down at the heart in Regina's hand and watched it for a moment. He reached a hand out to touch it, thought better of it, and retracted it. "It doesn't look like the other I saw."

"No, I suspect not," she answered in an eerily cool tone. "The one before was not darkened as mine is." She tilted her head in consideration. "Will this do?"

Whale's eyes flipped between the two women. Emma stared wide-eyed at the heart while Regina continued to watch the doctor with a chilly stare of her own. A thousand considerations ran through his head, but he rejected them as each outcome had him at odds with the sheriff, which was the last thing he wanted to do. Sighing, he nodded and turned to leave, stating he'd start work on the release papers.

"Seriously, you really just did that?" Emma's voice was fully of confusion.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ms. Swan. Why do you keep asking that question? You watched me do it yourself."

The sheriff finally looked up at the other woman's face. "But  _why_?"

"Because you should know what you're considering getting yourself into. It's only fair. You may know my history, Sheriff, but you don't know my heart." Regina nodded to the organ in question. "Now you do. Do you see all of the black spots?" Emma simply nodded. "Those are places I've blackened myself because of the things I've done. Knowing what I've done and understanding it are two different things. You need to  _understand_  because I will not go further with this," with her free hand she motioned between them, "until you do."

Slowly licking her lips as her eyes darted back to the darkened heart, Emma reached out and touched it. Much to her surprise, the places that were blackened were cool to the touch while the bright red places were warm. She slowly ran her finger around the organ, feeling the hot and cool of Regina's heart and only stopping when she realized the sensation was causing the older woman to shudder. "Does it hurt?"

"No," Regina answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Can it go back?" The blonde's face was a torrent of concern and hope. "Can we fix it?"

"Once a heart starts to darken, I've never known of it 'going back'. I've only known it to get darker and darker until it's fully consumed," came the answer, still in that same matter-of-fact tone.

Emma shook her head. "I don't believe that. People can be redeemed." She looked up again, eyes earnest. " _You_ can be redeemed. You're already starting."

Regina slowly shook her head, pursing her lips in thought. "Do you really think that's possible?"

"I think," the younger woman quietly began as she gently took the heart out of Regina's hand, "that, once something happens to a person, it will always leave a mark." She moved closer to the head of the hospital bed, heart in her right hand and her left hand braced against the side rail to steady her. "But a mark doesn't have to be a bad thing, Regina. It can sometimes be a good thing if you use it to learn and become a better person from the experience." She moved her right hand closer to Regina's chest. "You know what I think?" The question was clearly rhetorical, and the other woman only blinked and waited for the answer, not taking her eyes from Emma's gaze. "I think that these are only marks left behind, and you're already starting to move on, and I, for one," she pushed her right hand forward and grunted in unison with the former queen as the heart returned to its rightful spot, "am very proud of you for it."

Breathing uneven, faces now mere inches apart, they stared into the other's eyes for what felt like an eternity before Regina reached up to cup Emma's face. Her voice was so quiet it was barely audible above the sounds of the room surrounding them. "Thank you."

Emma's smile was gentle and reassuring. She tilted her head and leaned down closer still. "You're welcome. Now," she said in a quiet, breathy voice, "don't ever do that again. You scared the hell out of me."

Regina laughed, and the sound broke the building tension in the room. "Are you always this good at breaking up a moment, Ms. Swan?"

Emma's eyes sparkled with mischief, and she shrugged though didn't move back. "Probably. I don't know. I don't have a lot of experience with whatever this is we have going on between us."

Her own smirk growing on her face, Regina moved her hand from Emma's face to tangle in the sheriff's hair, pulling her down for their first kiss. Simple, steady, and a play between them with neither trying to be the one in charge, just a part of the whole created by the experience, the kiss seemed to be a unpretentious extension of what they already had. It was as if they'd always had this level of intimacy. Though strange, it felt oddly right for both of them, and, when they broke, Regina murmured in an amused tone, "You're incorrigible, Ms. Swan."

"So are you," Emma answered while going in for another quick kiss before standing up again. "And you could call me Emma. I think we've officially moved past the point of addressing each other by titles, don't you?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Probably. I don't know. I don't have a lot of experience with whatever this is we have going on between us."

Emma snorted and fell down into the chair set next to the bed. "Cute." Regina shrugged. "When we get out of here, why don't we get Henry and go to Granny's for dinner? I'm starving, can't cook, and I don't think you should tonight."

Regina gave it a moment's thought. "We could do that, or we could leave Henry with his grandparents tonight, order pizza, and go to bed early."

"I like that plan better." Emma pulled her cell out to make the necessary calls to setup proper arrangements but stopped before she made the first call. Letting out a heavy sigh, she commented idly, "It'd be nice to pretend to be normal, even if it's just for a night."

The brunette allowed both of her eyebrows to rise in surprise. "Are you calling our… whatever this is something normal?"

The younger woman rolled her eyes. "No, I said  _pretend_. Nothing about my life has ever been normal, and let's stop with the beating-around-the-bush stuff here. I think you and I both know what's going on. We might as well go ahead and say it."

Not falling for the trap, Regina asked, "And what would that be?"

"God, why do I have be the first to say it? Come on, Regina," Emma whined, "I just spent a couple of really weird days trapped in the Enchanted Forest and  _in the past_ where I was nearly taken out by  _your mother_. Cut me a little slack here."

"I could argue the finer points of your argument, but fine." Regina rolled her eyes and squared her shoulders as if she were preparing to do business with someone she'd prefer not to. "But, if I say it first, then concessions elsewhere will have to be made."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Really? Like what?"

"You and Henry come home to stay." The brunette crossed her arms and tilted her head in a defiant gesture.

Giving a little laugh, Emma shrugged. "Honestly, that's not much of a concession, but, hey, if that's what we have to do and you insist on twisting my arm about it, then, okay, you have a deal. You say it first, and, after tonight, Henry and I will pack our stuff and move home to stay."

Again pursing her lips in thought as she narrowed her eyes, Regina allowed her thoughts to roll around while she considered her options on how best to word her next sentence. There were several factors at play. She neither wanted to sound vulnerable nor weak, and she had no desire to seem as though she was insincere because they both knew that wasn't the case.

Sighing and uncrossing her arms, she finally spoke. "I believe it's safe to say at this point that you and I are each other's true love, as painful as that may be to your parents, the town, and each other."

"Literally," Emma mumbled while she rubbed at her chest at the remembrance of the last empathetic pain she experienced.

"Yes." Regina paused, a pained expression crossing her face. "I am sorry for that. It will take some time for me to adjust to the idea that we share each other's physical pain."

"Does that cross over to other things? Like, if we can feel each other's pain, does that mean we feel  _other_ things?" The sheriff waggled her eyebrows and gave a cheeky grin.

Regina hummed in thought. "I'm honestly not sure. There aren't many documented cases of this level of connection between true loves. I suppose we'll simply have to experiment and find out."

Emma's cheeky grin turned devilish. "Let me make those phone calls."

* * *

"Hey," David sat down on the stool next to his wife, who was staring into her cup of hot chocolate. "You going to be okay?"

"I don't know," she answered in a muted voice. "Eventually?" She managed to give him a quick side glance.

He nodded. "It's a lot to take in. I can't say I'm happy about any of this, either."

"How can you be so calm about it? This is our daughter we're talking about, and Regina…" She trailed off, shaking her head in dismay. "I can't believe this is happening."

"I learned a long time ago," he said, voice gentle and eyes soft as he looked at his wife, "that you can't help who you fall in love with, and, if it's really meant to be, you'll find a way to be together." His smile was small and a little sad. Memories of all they'd been through briefly crossed by his mind's eyes. "If it's true love, there's not a lot we can do to stop it."

"It just doesn't make any sense, David." Mary Margaret groaned. "I think I'd have preferred it if Regina had cast a spell on Emma."

He couldn't stop the grin. "She sort of did."

She glanced at him and gave him a scowl. "David!" Slapping him on the shoulder, she allowed herself to give a little chuckle. They settled after a moment. "It's going to take some time for everyone to adjust to this."

"They'll get there, and so will we. We just have to take it one day at a time, and," he shrugged, "maybe this is exactly what this town needs? If Emma and Regina are together, then our families' conflicts with each other are sort of moot, aren't they?"

"I suppose that's one way to end a feud," she conceded with a sigh. "Is Henry asleep?"

"Yeah, and he's still got Hulk and Dino safely guarding him. What do you say we take a hint and get some sleep ourselves? I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day." He scooted from the stool and helped to guide Mary Margaret to do the same.

She groaned but allowed herself to be moved about. "We're going to have to call another town hall meeting, aren't we?"

"Yes, but not tomorrow." He thought on it. "It'll have to be the next day."

She looked puzzled. "Why not tomorrow?"

"Because tomorrow I'm pretty sure we'll have to help Emma and Henry pack."

Mary Margaret stopped and stared at him. She was intently quiet for almost too long before she said in a very grim voice, "I don't know if I can handle this."

David gave her a sympathetic look. "We'll make it through."


	37. Chapter 37

The sunlight was warm, and the morning rays danced across the bedroom, gently highlighting the tousled hair of a very soundly sleeping Regina Mills. Emma's eyes scrunched around the corners as she grinned. Looking down at the woman wrapped around her, no one would ever believe she was the same person who had conquered lands, destroyed lives, and done more truly evil things than Emma really wanted to take inventory of.

In the peaceful quiet of the house, the woman resting on her stomach with an arm wrapped possessively around the sheriff's stomach looked more like the young Regina Emma had met just a few days ago. Though the magnificently thick, dark hair was shorter and the face a bit older, the differences were so minute it was hard to believe this woman sleeping on her was anywhere near the woman that had cursed an entire town into unhappy endings.

Emma's thoughts ran the gambit from what the shift in her relationship with the former mayor would mean to everyone's lives to why it was she had yet to ask about the scar on the other woman's lip. Her mind drifted, and, as it lazily shifted from random thought to random thought, the hand wrapped around Regina made gentle patterns along the smooth skin of the older woman's back.

"I realize this may come as a surprise to you," Regina said in a husky, half-awake voice, "but I'm ticklish, Emma."

Jerking in surprise, the blonde pulled her hand up. "Sorry."

Regina let out a contented sigh as she rolled over to face her companion. "It's fine, dear. Did you sleep well?"

Emma's eyebrow rose and she gave a cheeky smirk. "What little I had was great."

The brunette rolled her eyes, but her own equally cheeky smile gave away that she wasn't altogether annoyed with the answer. "I'm glad to hear it. How long have you been awake?"

"About half an hour." Emma shrugged. "I would have gotten up, but you look cute when you're sleeping, so I figured I'd stick around and watch."

Rolling her eyes, Regina pushed back to lean against the headboard, not bothering to pull the sheets up with her and leaving most of her unclothed body exposed. "Many things I've been called in my lifetime, but cute is not one I can recall." With a deep chuckle, she added, "My eyes are up here, dear."

"And?" Emma glanced up with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "I know where I'm looking."

"Have I mentioned you're incorrigible?" Despite the rebuke, Regina blushed slightly, and the ever so slight red rushed down her body to disappear under the covers that still hid her legs from view.

The sheriff pretended to think about it for a moment. "Yeah, I think you have. It was right after you said I was your true love." Smirk still in place, she leaned forward to kiss the other woman on the cheek. "I call dips on the bathroom."

"We have two, Emma." The exasperated sound in Regina's voice was matched by her amusement. "Go use the one across the hall. It's where all of your toiletries are."

Facing dropping into a serious expression, Emma tilted her head to the side in thought.

The sudden change in demeanor from the blonde stopped Regina mid-motion. "What it is? What's wrong?"

" _We_ have two?" Emma's voice shook slightly.

Regina gave a slow blink while she tried to find the train of thought the other woman was on. It took her a moment, but she finally caught up. "Yes, dear,  _we_ have two bathrooms in _our_ home, and," she moved back onto the bed and scooted closer to the blonde, " _our_ son will be waiting for us at the diner soon." She kissed the younger woman on the cheek. "And, once we pick him up, we'll go get your things, and we'll bring them back here to  _our_ home _._ "

Pulling back to see the other woman's face, Regina gave a very gentle smile. " _Our_ home, Emma," she repeated softly.

The blonde glanced down at her hands where they rested in her lap and tried to reign in her emotions. "I guess you're not the only one with issues, huh?" She gave a self-depreciating chuckle.

Laying a hand over Emma's, Regina looked up into the other woman's eyes and allowed her mouth to briefly twitch down. "We both have a great deal to work through, but I'm confident that… well, that we," she paused and swallowed down the sudden lump in her throat. Despite herself, surprise shown in her eyes at the thought that she couldn't quite vocalize. Licking her lips, she swallowed one more time and pushed herself to say what she was positive they both needed to hear. "I'm confident that we will work through it and be all the stronger for it."

"Together?" Emma gave a weak smile.

"Of course, dear," Regina's more assured, haughty tone returned. "You don't think I'd allow you to get off that easily, do you? You don't get to sweep me off my feet and then just leave. That's not how this sort of thing is done."

The blonde cocked an eyebrow. "Sweep you off your feet?"

"Quite literally, as I recall." Regina gave a bright grin and again slid off the bed to stand. "I didn't realize you were so strong, Ms. Swan."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Again with the 'Ms. Swan.?"

Chuckling on her way to the master bathroom, Regina replied in a light tone, "You like it!"

As the door shut behind the brunette, Emma gave a little snort of amusement. "Yeah, I do, Madam Mayor," she answered to the empty room before slipping off to the guest bath.

* * *

"Good morning, Ruby. It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Archie stepped into the diner with Pongo in tow. He gave a bright smile to everyone in the room, nodding to the Charmings and giving a little wave to Gold and Belle who sat in a booth in the corner.

"Good morning, Doctor Hopper," Ruby stopped cleaning the counter and walked around to kneel. "And good morning, Pongo. How about some bacon?" Pongo's tail wagged quickly back and forth and he pawed at her arm as he gave a little yelp. Her smiled grew a bit wider. She looked up. "What would you like?"

"I'll take my usual, please." Archie waited for her to stand before giving a tug on Pongo's leash to lead him to a table on the other side of the diner. Once dog and owner were settled, they both looked up to see Henry bounding toward them. "Good morning, Henry."

"Hi Doctor Hopper," the young boy said in a distracted way before he sat down in the floor in front of the dog. "Hi Pongo!" Henry gave a pat to the floor next to him, and the dog settled down beside him with his head in Henry's lap. Beaming at the dog, Henry began to rub Pongo's head until the dog rolled onto his side to allow the boy to give him tummy rubs, which Henry was all too happy to give.

The adults watched the interplay between the boy and the dog as they waited for their food.

"Maybe we should get him a dog?" David shrugged at his wife. "Regina's house has a huge backyard. It'd have plenty of room to run around."

"You can't be serious?" Mary Margaret rolled her eyes. "There's no way Regina would allow a dog in her house."

"Pongo was  _almost_ my dog," Regina's voice caught the couple unawares, and they both jumped in surprise. She just barely managed to hold her laughter at bay while she continued, "But I was not permitted to have pets in the castle. Mother considered it below us to have pets indoors."

"So why didn't you keep him as an outdoors pet?" Emma asked genially before motioning for her mother to move to sit next to her father so she and Regina could have a place to sit.

The brunette's eyebrow rose and her face fell into her typical poker mask. "What makes you think I didn't?"

"Really?" Emma rolled her eyes. "Before our first cup of coffee?"

David and Mary Margaret watched the interaction in silence. Their eyes darted back and forth between the two women across from them, but they said nothing.

"You're right. It  _is_ a bit early," Regina answered with a sigh. "Pongo was Daniel's dog. After…  _after,"_ she cleared her throat. "He disappeared. I never knew where he went, but I was pleased to see him here, and," she frowned, not really wanting to finish the thought. It was clear she was torn between telling Emma the story and not wanting to overshare in front of others. Finally opting for telling Emma and choosing not to care the others were listening, she finished, "Doctor Hopper has proven to be the perfect caretaker for Pongo."

" _You_  were going to have a dog as a pet?" Mary Margaret didn't bother to hold the skepticism from her voice.

"Yes." Regina's eyes narrowed. "Is it so hard to believe that, at one time, I wanted a dog?"

The pixie haired brunette quirked an eyebrow. "Well…"

"How about some breakfast?" David cut in before things to could get ugly. "We were waiting for you before we ordered."

"I'm surprised the kid hasn't tried to gnaw off his own hand or something." Emma chuckled. "This is late in the morning. Henry's normally already eaten and wanting something else by now."

"Pongo seems to be a good distraction," Regina answered while she watched their son play with the dog. "Perhaps we should consider allowing him to have a dog?"

"You think he's responsible enough to take care of a dog?" The blonde frowned.

"He  _did_  find you, break a curse, and manage to make his way safely through a rather perilous encounter with my mother, Ms. Swan." Turning back to her companion, Regina shot the sheriff a look that was partly sarcastic and partly serious. "I believe he's proven to be more mature than most in this town."

"Well, when you put it  _that_ way, then, yeah, sure." Emma shrugged and was rewarded for her snarky reply with a genuine smile and chuckle from Regina.

"I think I'd like to order something now," Mary Margaret mumbled. "My stomach's a little unsettled."

"Must be something you haven't eaten yet, dear," Regina quickly commented before wincing at the pinch she received under the table from Emma. She shot the blonde a death glare, which was returned to her by her companion.

David flagged Ruby down and then called Henry over to the table as a way of again breaking up the tension.

* * *

"Hi Mom, hi Ma," Henry said as he plopped down in a chair at the end of the booth that Ruby had placed there a moment before. "You two look sleepy."

"Hey kid," Emma gratefully took the cup of coffee offered to her by Ruby. "We had a long night."

Henry gave a thought look to them and then glanced over to give his grandparents with a confused look before turning back to his mothers. "How come?"

"We had a lot to discuss," Regina answered smoothly face never veering from its calm state. "Ms. Swan and I needed to work a few things out before you could come home."

Henry seemed to think about that for a moment while everyone ordered their meals. Finally, he asked in hopeful voice, "Does this mean that Ma and I are going to live with you now?"

"Yeah, kid, we're moving home," Emma answered with a quick glance to see her parents' reactions. Much to her relief and surprise, they looked neither shocked nor upset. Resigned would be the best descriptor, she decided. "When we're done here, we're going to go over to Mary Margaret and David's place and grab our stuff, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay." Turning to his grandparents, he asked, "Does this mean everyone is going to stop fighting now?"

"Well, Henry," Mary Margaret's voice was tight with inexpressible thoughts and emotions, "your grandfather and I want you and Emma to be happy."

It wasn't really an answer, and it didn't satisfy Henry's curiosity about the situation. "Ma, are you and Mom like a couple now or something?"

Emma chocked on air, and Regina opted to ignore the shell shocked sheriff in lieu of answering their son's question. "How would you feel about that, Henry? If Ms. Swan and I were a couple?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I mean, I'm okay with it, I guess, if that means no more fighting." He looked over to his grandparents. "True love makes people happy, right?"

"I'd like to think so," David answered carefully. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, if Mom and Ma have true love, then they'd be happy." He looked earnestly at his grandparents as if their answer were a matter of life and death. "So, if they were a couple with true love like you and Grams, then everyone would be happy, right?"

"No one ever said they had true love, Henry." Mary Margaret winced as soon as the words left her mouth. After everything she had witness over the course of the past few days, even she had a difficult time not believing that such was the case. "But, yes, if they," she stopped herself and finally looked up to meet Regina's watchful gaze, "If  _you_ ," she directed it at the other brunette, "have true love, then I would think you'd find happiness." Her voice lowered gently, softening in tone. "Are you happy, Regina?"

The silence at the table stretched out uncomfortably while the two rivals stared each other down. Finally, Regina answered in a surprisingly thoughtful tone that held no harshness, only a rare touch of honesty. "It comes a little bit with every day that Emma and Henry are present in my life and I don't feel the need to turn to  _other_ things to fill my time and my… void." Her frown deepened. "One day at a time, Ms. Blanchard, is all I can take, but each day becomes easier with those I care for there to help me." Her face flickered with annoyance at having admitted the last part aloud.

David nodded. "Will you ever stop?"

"I honestly don't know that I can completely stop." Regina knew what he was asking even as the others tried to catch up to them. "It's more than… than an addiction. It's an innate part of who both Emma and I are as individuals… and as a couple." She looked over to the blonde who was quietly watching the exchange and then to their son who was also trying to take everything in she said. "I'm not sure that I can stop, but I am sure I can stop using my skills for more questionable endeavors."

Henry's mouth twisted in thought. "You mean you'll stop being evil?"

Regina winced at his words, but it was Mary Margaret who surprised the table by correcting him. "You shouldn't call her evil, Henry." The sigh that escaped her was both resigned and determined. "I should never have started calling her evil in the first place. It probably only made things worse," she added, mostly to herself.

"You think?" Emma muttered under her breath, but was ignored by her mother.

Henry glanced around the table. "What do you mean?"

"Someone once told me," his grandmother answered with a quick look toward Regina, "that Regina was always the Queen, and I was the one who added 'evil' in front of her title. In a way, that's probably true." She tilted her head in thought. "In other ways, it's not, but it doesn't matter now.  _Now_  what matters is making sure you're safe, happy, and in a home where you're loved." Her eyes dipped down to look at the table in front of her. "So maybe it's time that we all started with a clean slate so that can happen."

His little mouth twisted more in a remarkable approximation of an expression the others had seen on Regina's face several times throughout the years, Henry tried to place everything into perspective. Looking directly at Regina, he asked pointedly, "Is this everyone's happy ending?"

There was dead silence in the diner. The other patrons who, up until now, had been pretending not to listen gave their full attention to what was about to be said at the Henry's table while those seated at said table held their breath and waited.

To Regina's credit the shock she felt on the inside did not show on her face, though she knew that it registered on Emma's. The feeling was too strong for the other woman not to experience it, too, and she was almost sorry for blonde. It was an unpleasant experience, to feel utterly stunned and thrown off kilter by what appeared on the surface to be such a simple question.

"Well, Henry," she began carefully, "we don't live in a storybook. This life isn't a fairytale, after all, but I'd like to think that you, Emma, and I could be very happy together as a family. Don't you?"

He grinned. "Yeah, I think so…"

The touching family moment was broken by the sound of the diner door flinging open and the sound of metal hitting metal. "There you are, your highness," a tall, dark, woman with strikingly white hair and very deep, dark purple eyes strolled toward them. "I've been searching for you for a long time. We have unfinished business."

"Regina…" Emma's voice held the fear and uncertainty everyone in the small diner felt.

Regina stood, moving Henry to sit next to Emma and then pushing the chair out of the way to allow her to stand directly in front of the table where her family sat. "I didn't realize you were in town, dear. I'm afraid I'm a little busy right now. Perhaps you should have called to set up an appointment?"

"You know where I've been," the other woman snarled, "and I owe you for what you did to me  _and_ to my daughter." She narrowed her eyes. "It's time for a little payback."

Emma looked to her parents and hissed under her breath. " _Who_ the hell is that?"

Henry answered quietly, "I think that's Ursula."


	38. Chapter 38

Emma's eyes grew wider as she looked from the white haired woman standing at one end of the diner to Regina calmly standing in front of their table. "You've  _got_ to be kidding me. How many villains can one town possibly have? I mean, seriously?"

"We'll discuss later the fact you've implied, once again, I'm a villain, Ms. Swan," Regina said under her breath to prevent the intruder from hearing her. "But, for now, suffice it to say that Henry is correct."

"Tell me, your Highness," Ursula said as she glided her way toward her target, "how long did you think it would take me to get out of that little trap of yours? I bet you didn't expect me to ever get out, did you?"

In a nonchalant manner, Regina gave a careless shrug. "I really haven't given you much thought since we had our last encounter, but, if you'd like to hear me praise your ingenuity as an escape artist, I'm sure I could come up with a few words."

Behind her at the table, the Charmings, all four of them, rolled their eyes. It was clear to the spectators that they thought Regina was making the situation worse, but no one knew what to do to calm things down. Instead, everyone helplessly watched the interplay between Sea Witch and Evil Queen.

"What I want," the white haired woman said as she finally came to a stop inches from a regally poised Regina Mills, "is your heart on a platter."

"Poetically ironic though that may be," the queen answered in a haughty, no nonsense voice, "I'm afraid you'll have to make do without. I'm afraid I have need of my heart."

"What makes you think," the other woman growled, leaning into Regina's space and noting with some irritation that Regina didn't move an inch from her current stance, "that I won't kill you here and now?"

"With what, dear?" Regina glanced over Ursula's body. "A tentacle?"

Pulling back to stand at her full height, a few inches taller than the brunette before her, Ursula glared down. "Just because my form is different here,  _does not_ mean I am incapable of using magic. It's here, in this town, and I will use whatever means available to me to repay you for what you've done to us all. After everything that's happened, you  _do not_  deserve to live."

From behind her, Regina could hear Henry gasp, and she mentally cursed the universe for allowing her son to see this interplay. Nothing good could come of it. "Perhaps not, but do you really think killing me will solve any of your issues?"

"It may not," the taller woman glowered, "but it'll make me feel better." Lashing out with one hand, Ursula grabbed the lapel of Regina's blazer to pull her forward while her other hand drew back to reveal a glowing ball of bright, hot light. "I hope you enjoy your suffering as much I have mine," she growled before the hand holding the ball of light surged forward, intent to make contact with Regina's head only to hit nothing but a puff of purple smoke.

"You've had all this time to come up with a plan, and that is the best you can do?" Regina actually laughed, but the sound was bizarrely cold.

Ursula's hand whiffed through the air, and the ball of light flickered across the room, nearly colliding with Belle's head. Gold's hand caught it before impact, and he stood, glowing ball still in his hand. "If you two insist on continuing this decades' old feud, the least you could do is step outside. Some of us are trying to have breakfast." He held his hand up, closed his fist, and the ball vanished.

"And  _who_ are you?" The white haired woman's eyes narrowed.

Placing his cane in front of him to rest both hands on it and tipping his head to the side, he answered lightly, "Here I'm know as Mr. Gold. In other lands," he gave a little shrug, "I'm known as Rumpelstiltskin."

"That Dark One?" The Sea Witch turned her head from Gold to Regina. "Of course you'd ally yourself with a creature as foul as he is."

Much to Gold's chagrin, Regina raised an eyebrow in disapproval. "Who said we were allies? And, if we're calling out the foulness of individuals standing in this room, I don't believe you should be throwing rocks while you live in a glass house."

From behind the counter, Granny Lucas shifted uncomfortably, wondering how much damage her small business was about to take while the other patrons looked about for an escape route.

"Whatever the two of you are fighting about now," Gold interrupted the new bout of potential verbal sparring, "I really  _do_ suggest you take it elsewhere because I assure you that, if you so much as harm a hair on Belle's head during this little squabble of yours, there will be no peace for either of you." He ignored the disapproving sound that emanated from the table behind him.

Ursula rigidly stood in the center of the diner. She looked around to the faces of the people watching the scene, and then back to Regina, who had, once again, taken up a position in front of the table where Henry and Emma sat. Narrowing her eyes, the taller woman took inventory of who was seated at the table behind the former queen. "Snow White?" Her voice was both confused and curious.

Mary Margaret cleared her throat and slid from the booth to stand next to Regina. "Yes."

"What are you doing here?" Ursula nodded toward Regina. "With her?"

Glancing from the older woman next to her to the table behind her and then around the room, Mary Margaret set her jaw and squared her shoulders. "I was having breakfast with her until you interrupted us. Maybe, if you explained the situation to us, we could all come to some kind of agreement where no one has to get hurt?"

"This makes no sense." The other woman's voice was becoming even more agitated. "Are you being coerced? Has she threatened you?" Ursula's gaze swung back to Regina. "Do you have her under some kind of spell?  _Do you have Snow White's heart?_ "

"Well," Regina cocked an eyebrow and made a little face, "I  _did_ have her heart, but I returned it yesterday." She shrugged. "Come to find out, the thrill of the chase was much more exciting than the execution of the threat."

"Regina," Mary Margaret's voice was low but full of warning, "you're not helping."

"I'm not trying to, dear," Regina answered in a chilly tone. Turning back toward the middle of the room and the woman standing there, she said a bit louder, "What  _do_  you want, Ursula?"

"My daughter back, but, since I can't have her because of what you've done," the white haired woman answered with venom in her voice, "I think I'll simply return the favor." With one hand, she pointed to Henry and, with the other, she made a flamboyant gesture, and, in a flash of light and puff of deep blue smoke both the sea witch and the young boy were gone.

The strangled cry of his name from both mothers and his grandparents filled the room, and the town seemingly shook with the aftershock of the abduction.

"Where did she take him? Regina," Emma was up and standing in front of the brunette in an instant. "You will tell me  _everything_. What the hell is happening here, and  _where is Henry_?"

Swallowing down the lump of fear and anger in her throat, Regina tried to answer around the dryness in her mouth. "The sea." She took in a deep, ragged breath. "She's taken him to the sea, and, if I have a guess, I'd say we have roughly 48 hours to retrieve him before that becomes his permanent home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to with a series here. I realized the themes are about to change, and I feel better with changing to a new story than trying to shift themes in the same story. So, look for a new story in the series up from me soon.
> 
> Thanks for reading this, and thanks for all of your comments. I'm very appreciative of this fandom. It's been really warm and welcoming to someone like me who is just poking around in it. You all have been great. Thank you for that!


End file.
